


He Knows

by fringeperson



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Old Fic, Secrets, Touya collecting the Cards, Touya knows what's going on, upsetting Clow's plans without a care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27556006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fringeperson/pseuds/fringeperson
Summary: Touya had known what was coming far longer than Sakura, and frankly he also knows that he's in a better position to take on the magical burden than his imouto. He knows magic when he sees it.~Originally posted in '12
Relationships: Kinomoto Sakura/Li Syaoran, Kinomoto Touya/Tsukishiro Yukito
Comments: 12
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

Several things happened at once in Kinomoto Touya's life.

The first was that his father, Kinomoto Fujitaka, brought home a book. This was hardly an unusual occurrence, but _this_ book had an aura around it unlike any other book Touya had ever seen before. Also, Fujitaka himself seemed to barely notice it, leaving it forgotten in the bottom of the box for Touya to shelve instead of doing it himself.

Touya stroked the red cover a moment, staring at the angry-looking animal on the front, and the lock on the book clicked itself open. Touya narrowed his eyes at the clasp suspiciously and re-fastened it before turning the book over to look at the back cover. There was a winged moon on the back, as well as a strange circle design, but it was the winged moon that caught his attention.

Touya drew the book closer to his face and ran his fingertip over that moon, breathing lightly. The moon on the cover _glowed_. Brightly. Blindingly brightly even. When Touya was able to blink the spots from his eyes and see clearly again, the moon was gone.

The second thing that happened was Kaho left. It was sudden, and painful, and Touya didn't want to talk about it with anybody, ever.

The third thing was the arrival of a new boy in his class. Tsukishiro Yukito was directed to the empty seat right in front of Touya, and he had the pleasure of being distracted from everything around him by the new boy's aura.

It was just like the feeling he'd gotten from the moon on the back cover of that book Otou-san had brought home the week before. That, combined with Tsukishiro's decision to engage Touya in friendly conversation and the dream he'd had upon waking that morning, had decided it for Touya: the moon had somehow left the back cover of the book, taking on human form, in order to get to know him better.

Damn magic.

Not that he'd change anything at this point. Tsukishiro somehow made the pain from Kaho's leaving just... go away. It didn't take long for the two of them to settle into a real friendship, and if Touya had the same dream every night of the full moon since meeting Yukito, then it was a small price to pay. It wasn't exactly a nightmare after all.

Things continued in this way, that is to say,  _normally_ , for about two years. Then Touya had that particular dream on a night that wasn't the full moon, and it was a bit different than it usually was. Still, nothing  _particularly_ out of the ordinary happened for a little while after that – barring Sakura's activities of course.

~oOo~

“What's going on?” Touya exclaimed as he entered the penguin enclosure with the fish, quickly running over to the struggling woman who worked with them for the penguin show.

“The penguin is caught in a whirlpool, but I'm stuck too and I can't get it!” she answered, and her own fear at what was going on was clear on her face as well.

Touya took a deep breath and jumped into the water, then blinked to get his eyes used to the small amount of chlorine. He almost doubted what they were telling him, or would have if he weren't used to seeing strange things. That was _not_ normal behaviour for water.

“Don't be so naughty,” he growled in his throat as he wrapped his hands around the spinning, swirling water that was holding the penguin captive. It was solid, not like normal water, and he could see the circle around the penguin growing larger and thinner as it pulled out.

The whirl holding his co-worker captive disappeared as well when the circle around the penguin broke.

Before the last wisp of odd water left, Touya grabbed hold of it, very firmly, before he surfaced and was able to breathe in some much need air again. “Behave yourself,” he ordered the water in his fist quietly. “I'll take you somewhere you can play if you like, but you  _must_ behave yourself first. Naughty children do not get treats.”

The water in his hand turned into a card. The Watery was written across the bottom and the picture in the middle was some young mer-boy. Very aquatic looking. He slipped the card into his pocket for now, and once he found a pen quickly wrote his name along the bottom so that if he dropped it his co-workers could give it back to him. Whatever magical  _thing_ he'd just caught – and he had his suspicions – he didn't want it causing any more trouble.

~oOo~

It was a Sunday. His mother's birthday. And Sakura was in her school uniform.

“Cheer leading practice,” she said when he asked her about it. “Happy birthday, Okaa-san. I love you.”

Touya couldn't really help but smile at that, but when he looked up, there she was. Floating, just a little bit see-through, and with those big wings just hovering over Sakura.

“Well, I'm going now!” Sakura announced, turning away from the picture and heading for the door.

She watched Sakura go, and Touya did too.

“I was just a little worried this time,” Nadeshiko said, still watching after Sakura, though the girl had disappeared from sight now. “So I came by.”

“Okaa-san,” Touya breathed.

“But, it looks like she's alright now,” she finished, giving him a smile.

“Happy birthday Okaa-san,” Touya said.

Nadeshiko gave him another smile, and then she faded from his sight as well.

Touya sighed and returned to reading his newspaper. “What has the Kaijuu been up to?” he wondered to himself, though he could guess very well. He would always do his best to protect her from any danger, of course, but it was an easier thing to do if she'd just  _tell_ him what troubles she was having to deal with.

~oOo~

Damn foreboding dreams. Damn them all. He'd had the regular one about Tokyo Tower and a bunch of cards off it's usual date back in April, the night before the first time Sakura snuck out – in her pyjamas no less – and about a week before he'd gotten that Watery card while he was at work at the aquarium. That was a good job actually, even if the freezers were cold. He'd even gotten a bonus for saving that penguin and whats-her-name that was in the pool with the aquatic birds.

Now another one. Judging from the noises coming from Sakura's room, it sounded like she wasn't having good dreams either. Absently, Touya wondered if she was having a normal nightmare or a really truly dream of foretelling. For her sake, he actually hoped it was the former and not the latter, since nightmares went away when you woke up.

When break rolled around, Touya scowled to see the reason for his dream that morning. Some brat kid was getting rough with Sakura. Like hell he was going to let that pass. Yuki could tease him till the end of time, but as far as he was concerned it was fact: only  _he_ was allowed to mess with the kaijuu that was his little sister.  _His_ little sister,  _his_ . The possessive tense.

“Hey you!” he yelled, quickly climbing the fence between the two school yards. “What the hell are you doing to my imouto?” he demanded, jumping down again on the kiddie side of the fence.

“Onii-chan!” Sakura called, and Touya was very aware of how scared she looked.

The kid jumped away from her, which was at least a little smart of the gaki. That the brat proceeded to raise his fists was  _less_ smart.

“Sakura-chan!” Tomoyo cried, running over.

Touya didn't have to worry about Sakura any further. The little Daidouji girl could be relied upon to do that much at least. Well, at the moment anyway.

“That's a stance I've never seen before,” Touya allowed quietly, even as he brought up his own hands. Really, he'd be able to plant a hand on the brat's head and watch him swing his fists and they'd never land on him. “A form or Chinese martial arts?” he suggested, still quietly.

“Oi! They had them!” Now _there_ was a familiar voice, and suddenly his best friend was over the fence as well, a brown paper bag in his hand. “They had nikuman! Here!”

“Yuki,” Touya greeted, and was content to ignore the brat (for now) now that said gaki looked sufficiently baffled and discomforted by the intrusion of the ever-amiable and always friendly Yukito.

“They had some left at the cafeteria,” Yukito explained, reaching into the bag. “They also had pizza-bread, and curry-bread. Would everyone like some? I've got five of them,” he offered.

Touya smiled. He knew perfectly well that Yuki would be able to easily eat all five by himself. He was offering his nikuman in order to break the tension that was still hanging in the air, just a little.

The gaki still had his fists up after all, even if there  _was_ an amusingly stunned expression on his face.

“Let's see,” Yukito said, then counted out as he handed out the nikuman. Touya accepted his and didn't even flinch when Yukito named the brat who had been picking on Sakura to have the fifth nikuman. “Perfect!”

Animosity just didn't survive in the same air as Yukito, or it didn't for long. Unless of course it was Yuki himself who was feeling it, and that was a very,  _very_ rare thing.

Touya smirked around his mouthful of nikuman to see the brat run in the face of Yuki's overwhelming affability. It was particularly amusing to him, since he was probably the only person who was aware that Yuki's pleasantness was actually a bit of an act.

Still, it meant that he wasn't going to have to beat up any kids right now, and Sakura had been reassured that her big brother could be relied upon to watch out for her, even if she never asked him to.

~oOo~

“She really thinks that _no one_ is watching her?” Touya sighed as he saw Sakura pull out a staff from nowhere, caused it to grow _wings_ and then took off above the school. “Honestly,” he sighed, shaking his head in despair at her naiveté. Though, in all honesty, there _were_ a lot of people who were more concerned with the flowers around them than the actions of a little girl to stop them.

Touya tapped his friend on the arm. “Come on Yuki,” he said. “Let's save the girls holding the ribbon before they drown in flowers.”

It looked like he wouldn't be playing all that much of a part in  _this_ magical hiccup of reality. Still, at least he now had a slightly better idea of who  _did_ know what Sakura got up to when she snuck away from the house at weird hours of the night during thunderstorms. Yes, he was aware. Yuki hadn't  _needed_ to say anything. Sakura wasn't exactly quiet about sneaking out of her window.

~oOo~

Touya blinked at the sight of the exam in front of him. He'd  _done_ this test already. Just yesterday. And there had been those bells the night before, ringing just as he and Yuki were bedding down after cramming. The day was a repeat. Well, he'd get in the improved score from knowing the answers already, even if it  _did_ feel a little like cheating, and then he'd go inspect the obvious source of the problem: the clock tower of the primary school.

That  _was_ where the oddly large amount of magic was radiating from after all, not  _just_ because the damn clock had gonged at completely the wrong time.

“Touya?” Yukito called when he got out of his seat.

“I'm just going to check something,” he told his friend. “I'll see you in our usual spot, yeah? Save me a nakuman if you can.”

Yuki smiled, nodded, and Touya headed for the fence between the upper and lower years.

Quietly, Touya scaled the inside of the clock tower. It was readily accessible and quite safe. After all, it was in a school and was used to teach the kids about both clockwork and the measurement of time. He'd missed coming here with the sixth grade class, since they'd moved to the area when he was in junior high, but he was sure that Sakura would come with _her_ sixth grade class in a couple of years.

“Ah,” Touya called, spotting the old man with the hour glass hiding among the cogs. “Grandfather Time, as much as I appreciated the chance to take my exam over and get a better score, I would appreciate it even more if you wouldn't fiddle around like that.”

The old man looked up, and he was clearly surprised to see Touya standing there.

“You tried to get me to go backwards, didn't you Grandfather?” Touya said with a smile and a shake of his head. “Come along out of there,” he called, extending a hand. “Things would become difficult to explain if you kept up that trick for too long, but I don't mind extra time to study in, if that will keep you busy enough and out of mischief Grandfather. But I want to enjoy lunch with my friend before the lunch bell sounds.”

The old man laughed, turned his hourglass one last time, and – turned into a card. The design was the same as the Watery he'd got at the aquarium. He didn't work at the aquarium much any more. Just a shift once a week in their tea room. Still, it was often enough for the Watery to get to play with the fish – gently of course – and he had other part-time jobs.

Touya sighed and pulled a pen out of his pocket, writing his name on the bottom of  _this_ card as well.

“Okay,” he said to himself. “Now, lunch with Yuki.”

~oOo~

Damn play. How did he get roped into being Cinderella anyway? He really didn't understand those of his classmates who  _enjoyed_ being overly and overtly camp for theatre – especially the ones who were completely straight. All that was bad  _enough_ , why did he have to feel another odd presence at the pinnacle of the play.

He had no particular affection for Yoko, but he wasn't about to let her fall into the presence that had rotted through the set either.

“Grandfather Time,” he called softly. “Watery, a little help would be very much appreciated.”

Two very different chuckles sounded, and Touya watched as the world became a landscape in sepia, everything halting. The Watery then gathered up all the green mist that had been causing problems in the first place.

“You can let go of her, she won't fall,” Time promised. “Only you, us, and the Mist are able to move now.”

Touya took a deep, honestly relieved, breath. Hopping down from the half-crumbled balcony, he stepped up to the cage that Watery had made for the green stuff that Time had called the Mist.

“Now what are you doing causing problems like that?” he asked. “Mist is supposed to be something that makes scenes romantic. We made fake mist for the scene. Wouldn't you rather do that?”

The green mist coalesced within its Watery prison and looked up at Touya with big eyes beneath her odd blue tattoo on her forehead. Her hands were clasped together hopefully as she nodded.

Touya smiled. “Then we'll do that, okay?” he said, holding out a hand for her.

Her card slipped through the water and into Touya's hand. With a sigh, Touya looked up at the crumbled stairs.

“Hold off un-freezing things for a bit?” he asked Time, even as Watery returned to his card form. “I've got to get back up and grab her hand again first.”

Time chuckled, but nodded.

Touya grabbed a pen on his way around, writing his name quickly on the new card before going up the stairs. Once he had his hand around Yoko's wrist again and was properly braced, he nodded at Time. Colour bled into everything once more, and at the sound of Yuki yelling his name desperately, Touya pulled Yoko back up onto the tilted set piece.

“I'm okay Yuki,” Touya reassured his friend. “We'd better get down though,” he added to Yoko, who nodded in slightly stunned agreement.

“Touya! Are you alright?” Yuki asked, checking him over, even running his hands over Touya's shoulders frantically.

“Yes Yuki,” Touya answered with a smile. “I'm just fine. I promise.”

“Thank goodness,” Yuki sighed, relieved.

~oOo~

Summer vacation. Blessed summer vacation. A bit of time in the car, and then they had a country house at their disposal to take the load off for a few days. Just rented, but for a little while that made it theirs. No summer homework, and time to just relax and spend time with Yuki.

The first day Sakura came back with news of having spent the day at the next house with an old man though, Touya worried a little. Sakura wasn't worldly enough to know to worry about such things, but Touya was. That his father wasn't worried however made him curious.

Once everybody was bedded down, Touya excused himself to Yuki – who he was sharing his room with.

“You're not going to sleep yet?” Yukito asked.

Touya shook his head. “I want to take a walk first. Properly cool down a little bit,” he answered.

Yuki accepted this, and Touya headed down the road to the next house.

He rang the doorbell and was confronted by a familiar face when it opened.

“Daidouji Sonomi-san,” Touya greeted, surprised. “I apologise for calling so late.”

“That's alright Touya-kun,” she answered with a slightly sad smile. “Won't you come in?”

“Thank you.” Touya followed her in and through to a lounge room where an old man was sitting with some ice tea. “I see now why Otou-san wasn't worried about Sakura making friends with an old man in the area. It is good to finally meet you, Great-Grandfather,” Touya said, bowing to the elderly gentleman.

“It is good to meet you as well Touya-kun.”

“Please don't tell Sakura,” Sonomi asked quietly.

“Why?” Touya returned. “She'd be very happy to know that she's met her great-grandfather.”

The old man smiled a little. “Indulge an old man,” he asked quietly, hopefully.

Touya sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I agree,” he allowed. “But I want my share of time with you as well,” he added with a smile.

Both of the adults smiled.

“I'll fetch another ice tea,” Sonomi offered.

It really was a very nice summer vacation. The only slight let down was that he  _still_ didn't tell Yuki how he felt about him, something he'd known since March. He'd had more than one really good opportunity to as well. Except that he had no idea if Yuki felt even remotely the same way, and if he didn't then it would just make the vacation awkward.

~oOo~

“By the way, did you know there was a festival going on?” Yukito asked Sakura.

She was mixing, Touya was chopping the cabbage, and Yuki had just offered to chop the leek so that he was helping rather than just sitting at the table watching.

“Yes,” Sakura answered. “I was planning on inviting Tomoyo-chan and going later.”

“Just you two?” Touya asked.

Sakura nodded.

“I'll go with you,” he pronounced. Damn prophetic dreaming _again_. But, at least the dream had been a pleasant one. Still, he would not be gainsaid.

“Why?” Sakura asked, surprised.

“Because I want to,” he answered, still not looking away from the cabbage he was chopping. He wasn't about to tell his little sister any other reason, even if they were all far more valid. He didn't want her to know about those parts of the world yet, and there was the glowing things from the dream to consider.

“Can I come too?” Yukito asked.

“Sure,” Sakura answered, not that there had ever been any doubt. She was incapable of denying Yuki anything really. “Then I'll just go and call Tomoyo now and ask her.”

As soon as she was out of the kitchen, Yuki pretended to cover laughter in coughing. Touya wasn't fooled for an instant.

“Festivals have lots of people, and it's dangerous late at night, so you're worried,” Yuki observed, with that smile on his face that he always wore when he was teasing just a little, but in a way that said he was actually pleased by what he had noticed and was teasing about. “You're so kind, 'Onii-chan',” he added, that smile stretching into a properly amused grin as he bowed his head to try and hide it.

“Shut up,” Touya countered softly, not interested and not able to come up with anything better that could be said before Sakura got back.

“Tomoyo said she could go,” Sakura announced upon her return, barely a moment later.

“Then the four of us can go together,” Yuki said with a smile. “Do you know where it is?”

“Yeah, it's Tsukimine shrine,” Sakura answered.

Touya froze in his place, then quickly set down the knife he was using to chop with before he did himself an injury. Never hold a knife if you aren't able to give it the attention it deserves, and at the mention of  _that place_ , he could have carved a line down the back of his hand and not noticed. His dream hadn't indicated  _that_ . Damn.

Once there, at least the gaki's presence was able to distract him from all the memories, and he even got the rabbit for Sakura while he lost himself in the dumb competition, just throwing all his anger and frustration out with those dumb rings, not even aiming properly. If he'd actually been calm, and aiming, he would have gotten the rabbit faster, but it was kind of therapeutic.

Sakura was out the back of the shrine with Yuki, under  _that_ tree. After giving her the rabbit – in his usual brusque way of course – he sent her off to get snow-cones with her friends. He didn't particularly want to linger here, it was full of memories that were better left forgotten, but...

Eventually he persuaded her to go on ahead, and as Yukito was determined to buy a snow-cone for the gaki as thanks for the rabbit  _he'd_ been given, Yuki would watch over the kids.

The glowing lights that he'd seen in his dream the previous night came out of the tree and floated around him.

“It's very pretty,” he complimented. “Thank you,” he said, “for a good memory for this place. Can I take you home with me?” he asked, holding out a hand.

The card pulled itself together over his fingers. The little fairy girl smiling sweetly on the face of the Glow card.

Touya tucked the card into his yukata sleeve next to his wallet and returned to the festival.

~oOo~

“Touya, you'd better watch out too,” Fujitaka said, no trace of a smile on his face. He was genuinely concerned by these reports of a strange girl beating up other skilled fighters in their local park. “You're a first-level black belt in karate.”

“First belt is hardly worth challenging Otou-san,” Touya answered, “but I promise to be careful anyway,” he added with a smile.

After walking Yukito back to his place, Touya took the long way home through the park. He had a fairly good idea of what was going on.

“Oi,” he called. “Come out. I'll be your last challenger. You've had your fun.”

The girl who burst out of the water was blue and white, and yes, oddly-dressed just as the newspaper had said. She was also glowing slightly in the dark and the lamp light.

Touya bowed formally, and the girl bowed in return. Fists were then raised.

After several punches and kicks were dodged, blocked or turned back on the other, Touya smirked as both of them halted their fists a mere breath away from the other's nose. A draw.

“Thank you,” Touya said, stepping back at the same moment she did and bowing.

She bowed, smiling, respect in her blue eyes before she closed them, drawing her fists into her sides as her smile vanished into solemnity and she shrank into her card form.

“Fight huh?” he said with a smile. “You're certainly very good at it.”

~oOo~

Coming home to find Tomoyo but no Sakura was singularly odd, particularly her very fake little fainting act. Honestly! Touya could practically  _smell_ the odd magical happenings, and that Tomoyo was in the house and acting nervous made  _him_ nervous, since Tomoyo was usually  _with_ Sakura on her magical misadventures.

There, just as he was filling the teapot with more hot water, _there_ was the tiny bouncing ball of glowing magic. And Sakura hiding behind a chair leg, all of two inches tall.

“Troublesome,” he said, raising an eyebrow at the bouncing light. “Funny, but troublesome.”

A tiny laugh sounded.

“Fix her please, and stop playing about,” he said firmly.

That tiny laugh came again, and Touya had the pleasure of seeing Sakura bump her head on the bottom of the chair  _and_ the table before the card slipped into his hand. He wrote his name along the bottom and quickly slipped it into his pocket, pulling out another.

“Grandfather, can you turn time back please? I would like to avoid the awkward questions if possible,” he asked the Time card.

A more wizened chuckle came from the card in his hand, and then he was back outside with Yuki, still on his way to the house. A quick check of his pockets showed that the Little was there. That was a good thing, but...

“That long huh?” he muttered to himself.

“Touya?” Yukito asked, having heard him.

Touya just shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. He knew he  _could_ tell Yuki the truth, but it just wasn't the best time.

~oOo~

Touya sighed as he looked down at the imitation of his little sister. She was smiling up at him, but she wasn't Sakura. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, being confronted by this figure who honestly had the same aura as a ghost, but who had his little sister's face. It was like Sakura had died. Not nice.

“Alright,” Toya said once he had the not-Sakura alone and was certain that they wouldn't be interrupted. “I know you're not Sakura,” he informed the girl gently, looking her in the eye.

Her eyes went wide and a scared look appeared on her face.

Touya smiled gently. “No need to look so scared,” he said, resting a hand on her head. “I'll take care of you anyway.”

A huge smile spread over her face, and the not-Sakura's appearance changed.

Touya smiled. This was her  _right_ form. Long  _green_ hair, a blue...  _shape_ on her forehead, white kimono, and a mirror with tassels on either side held to her chest. Oh, and she kind of glowed.

“A mirror,” Touya said. “You're a mirror.”

She nodded, and when he lay his hand on top of her head again, she returned to her card form.

Toya held the card a moment, then fished out his pen and wrote his name across the bottom of the card. “I'll take care of you,” he promised again. “And next time you want to come out to play, if I can, I'll buy you some hair ribbons.”

The little face of the girl on the card smiled just a little wider at that, and Toya chuckled before gently tucking the card into his jacket pocket with the other cards he'd collected.

~oOo~

“They said she left school at the usual time,” Fujitaka confirmed once he'd hung up the phone.

They were both worried. Sakura had written on the board that she didn't have practice and would be home early. It was now seven in the evening and there was no sign of her.

“I'll go look around,” Touya said. “Otou-san, you stay home in case she calls.”

“Aa,” Fujitaka agreed. “Be careful!” he called after Touya as his son ran out the door and grabbed his bicycle.

“I'll be fine,” Touya said to himself as he rode away from the house. “Sakura's the one who's in deep, again. She doesn't even have her stupid talking plush toy to help her out this time. He stayed in her room today and is still playing games.”

He almost wished he didn't know where Sakura was though. The Tsukimine shrine. _Her_ shrine... and if the dream he'd had a couple of days ago was right, then she was back.

As relieving as it was to see Sakura there, and just turning a big green twisting maze into a card with a rather elaborate spell too, it was _not_ so good to see Kaho again. Her and her knowing-ness. She was still as beautiful as ever though, which made things a little harder, but he was in love with Yuki now, even if he hadn't told his friend that yet.

“Come on Kaijuu,” he said quietly, laying a hand on Sakura's head. “Otou-san is probably still worrying, and I'll bet you're more than ready for dinner by this time.”

“I'm not a kaijuu,” Sakura objected.

Touya just sighed and smiled fondly. He needed the distraction of Sakura's objections to teasing, just so that he wasn't thinking about Kaho. He wasn't going to think about what she'd said that last time they'd seen each other – that they would both have fallen in love with someone else by the next time they'd met.

Damn. He was thinking about it. Her 'hunches' always were too accurate for his liking sometimes, but he'd learned since how to have even better 'hunches', which levelled the playing field a bit.

Touya breathed deeply. Yuki. He would think of Yuki. Yuki and Sakura. Yuki and Sakura and Otou-san. He would _not_ think about Kaho any more.

~oOo~

Well, he wouldn't think about Kaho any more except to go to Tsukimine shrine one more time to save Sakura from the presence that was drawing on the power of the ancient cherry tree there.

“I didn't want her seeing my past with Kaho,” he told the tree quietly once Sakura was out. “Please don't do that again. I'm sure it tired you out anyway.”

“Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!” Sakura proclaimed on the other side of the tree.

The card formed under the hammer of her wand, and flew gently over to Touya.

“Rest,” he told it. “And no more trips into the past for my little sister.”

“Eh? Where did it go?” Sakura wondered.

“To whoever got you out probably,” the plush toy answered from where it was hovering in the air.

“But Kero-chan, who was that?” Sakura asked.

Kero shrugged, shaking his head and signing. “I don't know. It wasn't the kid. I'm worried about there being a third person capturing the cards. Especially since they haven't revealed themselves to us yet. That was the first thing the kid did after all.”

Sakura nodded in agreement, also worried. “And Mizuki-sensei gave me back Maze when it went to her after I sealed it,” she muttered, giving the tree one last look before turning away.

~oOo~

Touya woke up with a frown on his face. There were a couple of stops he'd be making on his way _to_ school this morning it seemed, so he'd better get moving and get an early start.

“Oh, Touya?” Fujitaka said, surprised to see his son in the kitchen already. “You're up very early.”

“A couple of things to do before school that I just remembered this morning,” he answered easily. “I don't really have a lot of time, could you get Sakura to bring my bento?”

Fujitaka nodded, smiling now.

Touya sighed as he left the house. He'd _so_ been looking forward to teasing the kaijuu this morning too. First stop was a fountain in an out-of-the-way square in the shopping district.

“You're quite tall,” he observed the blue lady.

She smiled and nodded, standing from where she had been sitting.

“You'll come with me, no mischief?”

She bowed and glowed a little more brightly for a moment. Touya held out his hand and her card appeared there. No trouble at all.

The second stop was a bookshop, and his target was a book that the shop owner wouldn't remember putting on the shelf. Touya parted with one hundred yen for it all the same, and knocked his knuckles on the cover.

“I'm not going to write in you,” he informed the book sternly. “I know perfectly well that doing so is just _asking_ for trouble.”

The pages rustled gently, seeming to sigh before the book turned into a card obediently.

Touya wrote his name at the bases of the cards and slipped them into his pocket with the others. Now, if he was quick, he'd be able to meet Yuki at their usual spot and ride to school together.

Well, he could certainly be quick.

With a smile, Touya took off down the street towards his school.

~oOo~

“Onii-chan,” Sakura yelped in surprise. “You really do work everywhere, don't you?” she asked weakly.

“I guess,” Touya allowed. He was working at the amusement park that day, and the uniform really wasn't that bad. Just as sensible as the uniform that he'd worn working in the tea-room at the aquarium, though the jacket he was wearing now wouldn't work in as many places as the vest that he had been wearing then.

He calmly ignored the way Yuki just politely shovelled all his food into his mouth, though of course he couldn't fail to see the way the gaki blushed first at Yukito and then at Sakura _as well_. Attention then was forcibly drawn from the blushes by the little fires dancing all over where there were _supposed_ to be electric lights.

He managed to catch the look between the kaijuu and the gaki though. Apparently they worked together now. Well, it wouldn't matter this time.

“Grandfather,” he called softly. “Don't let them run off.”

“Hai, hai,” the card agreed, sweeping out of Touya's pocket and around all the people.

“Watery, the small fires?”

“Hn,” Watery agreed with a vicious grin.

“And bring the culprit here when you find them!”

Watery just laughed and pointed to the bit of bush just off the café patio.

“Right,” Touya said with a sigh and headed over.

It was a young boy with long pointed ears, wings, and his head on fire behind his flowing fringe. Little to no sign of legs, though the smirk on his face that said 'like hell I am going to submit' more than made up for that.

“I can ask Grandfather Time to stop you in place as well,” Touya suggested to it.

The boy just crossed his arms and pouted.

“I'll bet you don't get let out to play much,” Touya observed. “Too destructive.”

The boy nodded, still pouting.

Touya sighed and ran a hand through his hair before fisting it briefly and letting go.

“Well you can't keep this up,” he told the boy. “Or else when Grandfather Time lets them move again, the kaijuu and the gaki will try and stop you and that would just get them hurt, not to mention all the others. I guess I'm for candles and fireplaces from here on instead of electric lights and space heaters.”

The boy's face lit up. It wasn't what he was after – he was a fighter, not just someone who hovered around – but little fires were better than nothing at all.

Touya suppressed a chuckle at the expression of gleeful hope that the young boy was wearing.

“Yes, I mean it,” he promised, holding out his hand to the boy.

The fires that were still there all put themselves out as the boy became a mass of orange and flowed towards Touya, all settling down at last into a little rectangle of card over Touya's palm.

Touya took out the pen he used to write down orders and quickly wrote his name across the bottom of the card before returning to his previous position.

Watery gave him a salute – all fires were confirmed _out_ – before diving into the pocket he kept the other cards in, and Time gave him a nod before following the blue boy into the pocket as well.

“Hey Yuki,” he called. “Come back to our house after I get off shift,” he said, laying a hand over Sakura's shoulder, making sure that his invitation was clear. “I've got your birthday present and your Christmas present to give you.”

“Oh?” Yuki asked, a big grin on his face. “They're separate?”

Touya snorted. “Of course,” he said. “They're separate reasons to celebrate. I got you separate gifts last year as well remember?”

“So you did,” Yukito agreed with a smile. “I'll come,” he agreed happily.

Touya nodded. “Good. Enjoy your food,” he said, excusing himself to continue working.

~oOo~

“You're out of season,” Touya scolded when he found snow piled so high he wouldn't be able to ride his bike home again. “Best pack it up and pack it in before I let out Firey to clean you up. Snow in winter is nice, snow in _spring_ not so much.”

The snow built up the form of a woman, and she pouted at him.

“You can play as much as you like in your _right_ season,” Touya told her, “within reason,” he added. “I'm sure there are things you would like to do more than just spread snow all over. Building snow men is fun, and maybe by next Christmas we'll be able to have snow-ball fights with our friends?”

She clapped and in a short burst of light turned into a card and floated into his hand.

The snow that was everywhere stayed, but it wasn't cold any more apart from what was coming from the snow itself, so it would probably be gone soon enough.

~oOo~

“Onii-chan, what are you doing here?” Sakura asked, clearly surprised.

“I wrote it on the board,” Touya answered. “No school today, so I'm working.” He _had_ been looking forward to it too, until that dream he had just before waking up. Since arriving at the strawberry farm he'd inspected every shed and room with a lock, as well as a bunch of them that didn't have any method of security, until he'd found the reason for his dream.

He wasn't particularly surprised when Sakura ignored him in favour of Yukito, but she was so happy that he wasn't offended either. Seeing her smile was a good thing.

“She's cheerful as usual today,” Yukito commented as she ran off.

“That's all she has going for her,” Touya answered fondly.

It really was a good thing he'd found that magical presence, or the afternoon plans would have needed to be altered. It had been hanging around the catch on the door for the materials room, and he was sure that Sakura would have been sad if she didn't get to learn to make strawberry desserts in the afternoon.

He'd be using the Lock card he'd coaxed away from that door to make sure none of the girls at school ever got into his locker again. Especially on Valentine's Day. If they couldn't leave their cards or chocolates, then he wouldn't have to deal with getting rid of them later. Chocolates accepted always meant having to do _something_ come White Day.

Yes, having the Lock would make things a lot easier at school.

~oOo~

Sakura was sick. She was dizzy and she was feverish and she wasn't the sort to do the sensible thing and stay in bed when she was put there. And there was a presence in the air.

“You're not helping matters you know,” he called up past the edge of his umbrella into the sky.

“Oh?” answered a little purple person sitting on top of a cloud.

“She'll notice, and then she'll over-exert herself and make herself worse,” he explained. “I like cloudy days as much as sunny days, but now is a bad time. So, if you don't mind?” he asked, holding out his hand for the little person.

“Mn,” the little fellow agreed and fell into a card shape and Touya's hand.

“Onii-chan?” Sakura asked, stirring a little where she was half-asleep on his shoulder.

“It's nothing for you to worry about Sakura,” he assured her and kept walking. They were nearly home after all.

~oOo~

Sakura was cast as the prince. He couldn't believe it. Or rather, he didn't _want_ to believe it. Unfortunately it was both true and frustratingly easy to believe, especially considering he'd been Cinderella to a girl's 'Prince Charming' at the senior school's last arts festival.

The dreaded 'kissing scene' came, and Touya was ready to storm the stage to prevent that kiss when a magical darkness washed through the theatre.

“Small mercies,” he grumbled as he saw the gaki push Sakura back and start yelling before the darkness swallowed him as well. They gave him a name for the cards though, which was nice. Only Sakura was still visible, and Touya knew because he raised his hand to his face but couldn't see it, even though he could feel it.

“So Dark is all over, and Light is just in Sakura?” he asked quietly as Sakura started moving, searching for anybody who might still be able to help her.

The Light sprung from Sakura and raced over to him, the Dark falling into a single figure beside her.

“You figured us out!” the white-dressed Light said, though she didn't move her mouth, Touya still knew it was her.

“And so quickly!” the black-clad Dark added, and her mouth didn't move either. Both of them had gentle smiles on their faces as they held each other's hands while giving him their full attention.

Touya bowed his head in quiet acknowledgement. “Will you return to your card forms now?” he asked.

They both nodded. Black swirled around Dark and white around Light.

“We hope that you or your sister will be chosen to be our master,” Light said as she disappeared.

“But the final decision rests with Yue,” Dark added as she too vanished.

“Yue?” Touya asked. “That's Yuki's other name, isn't it?”

“Oh, you _are_ smart!” the two cards answered happily as they drifted down into his hand. Touya hid them behind his camera just before the lights came up again and the stage was once more visible.

Sakura was still standing next to the bed where the gaki was sitting, and Touya was pleased to see that they both looked thoroughly confused. He bet they weren't the only ones, but for once they were able to blend in properly with everybody else who was wondering what had just happened.

~oOo~

Touya looked at those gathered together at the end of the archery tournament that Yuki had participated in. It had rankled more than a bit to be so near to where Yuki was competing, but unable to actually be _there_ and cheer his best friend on.

Once he was out of the suit though, his shift over, it was quite something to see Sakura bind that great big _thing_ of dirt with that magic tree of hers. It was interesting to see the plush toy turn into a winged, armoured, lion-like beast too.

~oOo~

Kero frowned. This wasn't right. There were still cards that they hadn't found. Two of the major four were still missing in particular, and a good lot of others as well. Ones that he'd only caught a hint of before they disappeared and ones that he hadn't even caught that much of. Why was Yue appearing  _now_ to give judgement? Had the mysterious third person collecting the cards gathered the rest? That was a lot of cards if they had.

“First to be judged will be the child with the smallest magic power and fewest cards, and the disproportionately big mouth,” Yue stated, taking Syaoran away to the rooftop for the judgement.

The kid was returned very shortly, bereft of his cards and a good chunk of his ego.

“Now, Keroberos' chosen candidate,” Yue summoned, turning his eyes to Sakura. “The candidate with the _second_ smallest amount of magic.”

She too was taken away and returned to them before very long.

“I failed,” Sakura sobbed as she was returned to them. “I had a second chance even, and I still failed! I didn't want to let everybody down. I can't think of anything more terrible than to forget the person you care the most about! Yue-san has all the cards we caught now.”

“I am reserving my judgement,” Yue clarified as he descended. “There is another candidate, one with much more magic than either of these two.”

“Another?” Kero asked, looking around for this third person.

Yue nodded. “Sakura is a passable possible mistress. Until I have judged the last candidate however, I will not name her Mistress of the Cards.” Yue cut his eyes across to the tori gate. “Though _Yukito_ would prefer for the last candidate to never know the truth about me.”

Touya stepped out of the shadows and walked up to the angel that had been hiding inside his best friend all these years. “I knew from the day we met, I just never said anything, since there never seemed to be a good time,” he said plainly. “He doesn't need to hide it from me.”

“Big Brother!” Sakura yelped. “You've got Clow Cards too? You knew the whole time?”

Touya gave her a small, quick smile on his way past her, patting her on the head as well. “That's right Kaijuu,” he said, then continued on towards Yue.

“You must defeat me,” Yue said once they were behind his barrier and away from the anxiously awaiting audience. “Or face the consequences.”

Touya shook his head. “How perfectly misleading,” he said. “This test  _isn't_ about besting you in a fight Yue.” Slowly, Toya walked towards the angel, side-stepping any crystals that were thrown at him. “I do not want or expect you to forget Clow Reed,” he continued as he reached Yue and gently placed his hands on either side of the angel's face. “Just let  _me_ care for you as well. I couldn't bear it if Yuki disappeared, and his staying or going depends on you. You're aware of everything that happened in Yuki's life. I don't think you want to forget me either.”

Yue grit his teeth, frowned and flinched back all at once, trying to deny what Touya was saying, trying to get away from his gentle touch that just followed him but didn't actually hold him in place.

“Let me take care of you,” Touya whispered, slipping a hand around the back of Yue's head and only now pulling them together. “I'll keep you safe, I promise. You know I can, please let me. That's all I want to do, that's all I ask.”

Yue choked on a sob and finally collapsed against Touya's chest, gripping the fabric of his soft navy jacket tightly in his fists and hiding his face in the warm fabric as he slid down to sit on the roof, pulling Touya with him as he went.

“Shh,” Touya comforted, sitting properly and pulling the Guardian of the Moon into his lap. “It hurts, I know, but I'm sure he didn't want you to hurt. I know I don't want you to hurt. I'll take good care of you,” he promised, stroking white hair gently and rubbing his other hand up and down between Yue's wings in an automatic, repetitive, and (most importantly) comforting motion.

Yue cried for a long time. He was loud at first, screaming and railing about Clow and betrayal, then just wailing wordlessly, then sobbing harshly, then more quietly. Eventually the tears began to subside into sniffles and at last Yue let Touya wipe his eyes and offer his handkerchief. Yue looked up at Touya once he'd cleaned his face. “You'll take care of all the cards?” he asked earnestly, desperately, the threat of more tears clear in the red rims around his eyes.

Touya nodded in answer. “All of them, both sides of you, and even that stuffed lion that's been hiding in Sakura's room,” he assured the luminescent figure in his lap, pulling him a little closer to his chest as he did so.

Yue nodded as well, wiped the very last of the tears from his eyes, spread his wings wide even though he was still in Touya's lap, and relinquished all of the cards he had taken from Syaoran and Sakura. “The Clow Cards have a new Master,” Yue intoned.

“Care-giver,” Touya countered, squeezing Yue gently. “Big brother, friend, source of magic from which to draw their strength.”

Yue nodded in acceptance of these terms. “That is what a good master is,” he answered, and all the cards that he had taken from the kaijuu and the gaki appeared, circled him once, then slid into the pocket where Touya had been keeping the cards he already had.

“I'm sure they're worried by now,” Touya said, looking down at where everybody was waiting. “And asking lots of questions they can't answer.”

Yue nodded and pulled himself up out of Touya's lap. “Let's go tell them.”

“Yue,” Touya called gently before the pale figure took off to head down. “Yuki needs to know. It will hurt him, and you, to continue being so separate. I'm not suggesting you let him know everything all at once, that would be a problem too, but...”

The moon guardian nodded slowly. “I understand Touya,” he said. “As you said, you want to take care of all of us.”

Touya nodded, a smile on his face, glad that he had been understood.


	2. Chapter 2

“You knew the whole time?!” Sakura screamed, repeating her earlier question now that she wasn't completely in shock any more.

“Of course I did,” Toya answered. “Which is why I didn't like _you_ ,” he added, looking over at Kero. “Always getting my little sister into dangerous situations.”

Kero had the grace to look sheepish.

“I don't see how you can be the new Master of the Cards, you have hardly any magic at all!” the gaki yelled.

Touya narrowed his eyes at the brat and flared out the magic that he normally kept contained within himself under tight control.

The gaki fell down from the power of the magic Touya had unleashed, and gaped up at him from where he'd fallen.

“Onii-chan,” Sakura said, stepping up to him and drawing his attention. “Will you need this?” she asked, holding out the key that Kero had given to her.

“I didn't before,” Touya answered, though he held out a hand for Sakura to drop it into. “But hand it over anyway.”

A magic circle sprang up underneath and around Touya then, and the world faded for a moment.

“Well, this is a surprise,” a voice said.

“You were _expecting_ Sakura,” Touya answered with a slight growl.

“I was,” admitted the voice, and a figure that wasn't all there appeared. “But it seems as though I am overruled. Things will really begin to happen now, and change.”

Tuoya nodded. “For one thing, this key can't stay looking like it was meant for my little sister,” he said, holding out the offensively pink item.

Clow sighed, and then watched as the key grew to become a wand, and then was re-made for the second time that night. Pink became dark blue. The star-and-wings top became a golden ball with wings wrapped around, as though cradling it.

“Magic of the planets, holding and caring for all in constancy and subtlety. I've never seen magic like yours before, Kinomoto Touya,” Clow said. “It is certainly very strong. Possibly stronger even than that which I used when I made the Cards. Hmm...” Clow studied Touya silently a moment before he nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, stronger than I was at my height, but less trained. You might want to work on that.”

Touya just nodded silently, and watched as Clow disappeared again, and the real world came into view once more.

“What was wrong with my candidate?” Kero was asking Yue as the kids were escorted away by Kaho.

“Too little magic of her own,” Yue answered with an elegant shrug. “Not decisive enough, and she didn't understand what I was doing. She came close, very close, but not quite close enough. Touya was raised in the same house in the same way, but he has more magic, greater maturity of character, and he knew immediately.”

“If it makes you feel better Keroberos,” Touya said, joining in the conversation, “Clow was actually expecting Sakura.”

Both of the guardians stared at him then, and Yue seemed momentarily horrified. Whether this was at the idea of having a mistress with too little magic, or that he'd gone against Clow's wishes and chosen someone else, Touya didn't know, and he wasn't going to ask if Yue wasn't going to say on his own.

Instead, Touya just chuckled. “It's good for people who are powerful like that to be proven wrong now and then. Come on, let's go home. I think it's past time I actually _saw_ what you have been getting into with the kaijuu, and if Doudaiji has been present as often as it looks like she has, I'll bet she's got videos.”

Kero nodded.

Touya looked at Yue then. “It would be better for you to change back now, since this will be the _only_ time Yuki is going to have a blank in his memory. It wouldn't do for him to wake up somewhere else.”

Yue nodded in silent agreement, then brought his wings around himself.

“Ah, Touya!” Yukito greeted, then noticed Kero, all big-cat-like and armoured and with very large wings. “Eh, what's that?”

Touya chuckled. “That, Yuki, is Sakura's little plush toy. I told you there was something off about it.”

Yukito blinked in surprise. “Touya...”

Touya laughed outright. “Come back to my place. I'm sure I can get Sakura to make something.”

“Can we have sweets?” Keroberos asked hopefully. “There's a card that will make them. Please?”

Toya rolled his eyes. “We'll make a party of it. But I wonder if you shouldn't be going on a diet.”

“ _Diet_?!” Kero yelped. “I only eat according to my needs!”

“Touya...” Yukito said, a quaver of a question in his tone. A 'what is going on?' sort of question.

Touya slung an arm about Yuki's shoulders. “I promise I'll explain,” he said. “But let's get home and out of the cold night air first.”

~oOo~

Touya looked through the deck of cards, the deck of _magical_ cards, that he'd more or less just won that night. At last he found one with 'The Sweet' written at the bottom.

“We're having a bit of a party tonight,” he said quietly. “To celebrate that all of you cards are together again I suppose, among other things. Would you like to join us?”

And just like that, the red of the red-and-gold card became a deep royal blue, the design on the back changed to include a new circle between sun and moon, and then Sweet sprung out of her card with an eager-to-please smile, and then she dashed off through the air into the kitchen.

“Touya?”

“You seem to be saying my name a lot lately,” he said, turning to Yukito with a smile. “Don't worry Yuki. I'm fairly sure she'll make enough sweets for you _and_ that little furball to eat your fill of, and for there still to be enough left for the rest of us.”

Kero had returned to his 'I am an innocent plush toy, please don't squeeze me too hard' form a little after the diet comment. For travelling all the way back to the Kinomoto residence from the shrine grounds where the archery tournament and then the Judgement had taken place, it really was more convenient and less conspicuous.

“There is no such thing coincidence,” Kaho said softly, repeating what he had said earlier that evening just after he gave Sakura that balloon while he was working, though this time (for once) the look in her eyes said she was wondering if that was really true. For the first time in her life she seemed to be questioning it, and all because things didn't work out the way _she_ expected, for once.

Touya was wondering why she had come back to the Kinomoto house as well, but decided not to question it. Well, not yet at least.

“Tomoyo-san, how many videos do you have of what my little sister has been up to?” Toya asked, deciding to not complete the saying that Kaho had started. He saw no reason to repeat the sentiment twice in one evening.

“Oh lots!” the girl answered, stars appearing in her eyes.

“I would like to see some of them please.”

“Onii-chan!” Sakura exclaimed, her face going red. “Why?”

Touya chuckled and rested a hand on her head. “Not for the sake of embarrassing you,” he promised quietly. “It's to give me a better idea of the others that are now in my care as well. Life with magic in it needs to be approached differently, especially when the magic has personalities like these cards.”

Sakura blushed, but nodded in acceptance.

~oOo~

“Oh!” Sakura yelped, something clearly occurring to her just then before she raced up the stairs. She was back down before long, a red book in her hands.

“Onii-chan, will you want this to keep the cards in?” she asked, holding it out to him.

Touya tilted his head to the side, wondering that himself. He'd managed just fine so far keeping the cards in his pocket when he was out, or a velvet bag he'd made for them when he was home. On the other hand, the book was slightly more secure he supposed...

“Let me have a look at it,” he allowed, holding his hand out for it.

Sakura handed it over.

A brief flash of light filled the room, and when it was gone all that had been red on the cover of the book was now a deep blue. The word 'Clow' on the front of the book had also been replaced by 'Touya'. The design on the back of the book changed too, just as the design on the back of Sweet had changed – a new circle covered in lines like the latitude and longitude on a globe was added between the sun and the moon.

“What?!” Kero exclaimed, loudly, when he saw how the book had changed. “How did this happen?”

“For now,” Touya advised, “do not concern yourself with it. Summer vacation starts in a couple of days, so let's make the most of it rather than spend it worrying. In my case, that means as many shifts at my part-time jobs as possible.”

“Onii-chan, you really work everywhere,” Sakura said with a sigh.

He just smiled and asked Move to help bring the sweets that Sweet had made into the living room so that they could watch some of Daidouji's videos of Sakura. Again, the colour and pattern on the back of the card changed. It happened a fourth time when Touya asked the Bubbles card to help clean up a few hours later when everybody except for Yukito had left the Kinomoto residence and gone back to their own homes.

“Onii-chan,” Sakura said quietly, tugging on his jacket to get his attention. “Don't you think it's a bit lazy to get the cards to do everything like this?”

Touya shook his head. “It takes a fair bit of magic to alter the cards the way I'm doing every time I call on them right now,” he answered. “So even though I'm not appearing to do anything, I'm actually doing a lot. Also, I'm letting the cards be active, which they like much better than just sitting in the dark doing nothing.”

“That's true,” Kero butted in, a frown on his face. “You've turned three Clow Cards into, I suppose, _Touya_ Cards just this evening. That shouldn't be possible. You _should_ be magically exhausted from the effort.”

“Yue wishes to express a smug attitude for choosing a powerful new Card Master,” Yukito said, a small, proud smile on his face as he looked at his best friend.

It had taken a bunch of videos from Daidouji, a lot of reassurance from Touya, and of course the blatant use of magic, but at last Yuki was _beginning_ to be comfortable expressing such sentiments on behalf of his other self – who had only started to really talk to _him_ that evening. After all, if he wasn't at least a little bit comfortable with it then he wouldn't have said anything at all.

Touya laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder happily. “You're staying tonight, right Yuki?” he asked hopefully.

Yukito nodded, and his smile seemed to be grateful.

~oOo~

The last day of the summer vacation, Touya had a day completely off from all his jobs. This suited everybody quite well, as they also had the day otherwise free – even Fujitaka. So the Kinomoto family, as well as Yukito, Tomoyo, the gaki and the plush toy (read: Li and Kero respectively) all went to the beach together.

“Watery, Wave, Sand, come out and play with us,” Touya called softly, a hand out in front of him.

The first two made straight for the water, creating perfect waves for the surfers while at the same time cancelling any possible risk for the people paddling in the shallows or who were more interested in just swimming or playing in the water.

Sand grinned and started building a sandcastle. Or perhaps sand _sculpture_ would be more correct. It was certainly looking more grand, even in its formative stages, than most sandcastles usually were.

“Three cards, all at once,” Kero mumbled in quiet awe.

Even with Touya calling on – and transforming – the cards with a low level of regularity since the Judgement, these moments when he did more than one at once, and for what could be regarded as frivolous things like letting the cards out to play, Kero still suffered from mild awe whenever Touya really displayed his power like that.

Earthy had helped with some landscaping at Yukito's house. Libra was called upon once to judge whether it was Sakura or Kero who had eaten the last pudding. Create made a new bed for Kero in a corner of the living room – much appreciated, as it was for his larger form so he could stretch out and relax that way, but it certainly was not needed. Fight got called on for a training session almost every evening when Touya got back from work, if he had the energy by then. Instead of having to worry about the hose or watering cans, Rain now watered the garden in the evenings, and Cloud kept the more delicate plants out of direct sunlight.

“We're going to have a bonfire later as well,” Touya said, still not joining in the fun with everybody else. “Wood, can you build it for us? Something that Firey will feel good in later?”

“Four?!” Kero yelped as Wood emerged as well and did exactly that. “And with Firey in the evening that will make five!”

“More than that,” Touya corrected.

“Eh?!”

Touya chuckled. “Sakura is going to need a little extra time to get all of her summer homework finished. She's forgotten about it again,” he explained.

“But Time is very draining,” Kero protested weakly.

Touya just shrugged. “I'll have a big meal and sleep well,” he answered simply. “Now go have fun. Illusion? Will you hide the fuzz-ball? It wouldn't be good for him to attract notice, but he shouldn't have to miss out on any of the fun.”

The pattern of the Illusion card covered Kero, and to anybody who looked in his direction (who didn't have any experiences of magic that is), it was as if the Beast of the Seal wasn't there.

It was a good way to end a good summer, Touya decided, as they returned home in the evening.

~oOo~

A dream of foretelling got Touya out of bed grumpy and ready for a bad day. The appearance of a transfer student the next morning at school seemed to Touya to be a bad omen for the coming trimester. She was like Yuki in that she wasn't human, but she was totally _un_ like Yuki in that Touya found her to be completely irritating. Her seat was on the other side of the class to him, but the first thing she did as soon as they were let out for lunch was to launch herself at him.

Naturally, he dodged. He'd had the benefit of a lot of time spent with Fight, so he could get out of the way of just about any purely physical attack with little trouble.

“So cold Touya-kun,” the girl pouted once she'd pulled her face off the floor.

Touya ignored her very deliberately and kept walking as if he didn't even know she existed. Within his own mind, he was debating having Shield keep her off him or just employing Through so that any time she tried to latch onto him it just wouldn't work.

Or maybe he could run her through with Sword... No, that would be a lot harder to explain, and he wasn't about to subject Mirror to the crazy transfer student's attentions either. That was just a _bad idea_. Besides the fact that he liked Mirror, it probably wouldn't work. Using Silent or Voice to keep her noise from grating on his nerves was an appealing idea though.

Well, Lock was in place on his locker, keeping out any and all intruders from there at least, and until he made up his mind on how to properly deal with his new pest, that would just have to do.

After school, she tried it again when he was with Sakura, Daidouji, the gaki and Yuki. He'd just pinched Sakura's icy-pole. Thankfully, she yelled his name in advance (declared her target) and came at him in a running jump. He ducked and she went right over.

“I'll buy you another to make up for me stealing this one,” he told the kaijuu with a sigh. He really felt like he'd had a much too long day already, and he still had to go to work yet.

“Onii-san,” Sakura murmured in surprise. He never did that sort of thing normally. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I'll be better when this day is over,” he promised, absently dodging another attempt at grabbing him being made by the irritating new student. She seemed to get the hint after that, a little, or else she had somewhere else to be, as she said she'd see him tomorrow before running off. “What marks did you get on your summer homework?”

Sakura smiled. “Thank you for giving me the extra time to get it done!” she said. “I was able to do it really well, and I got a good mark.”

Touya smiled back. “Good, I'm glad. It's important for you to do well in school.”

Then the sky opened up and rain began to fall.

“The laundry!” Touya exclaimed. “Windy, hurry and keep it safe!”

The card flew off, fast as she could. She was swirling around the laundry gently when Touya and Sakura got home, keeping the rain off and finishing drying all at the same time.

Both of the Kinomoto children breathed sighs of relief before quickly gathering it all in.

“Thank you Windy,” Touya said with a smile once everything was in.

She smiled back to him and returned to her card form – but with the new crest on the back and blue in place of red.

“Not normal rain,” Touya grumbled as he looked up at the sky. “Storm,” he called.

“Ooh,” the curly-haired boy stared up at the clouds before sending a questioning look at Touya.

“I know perfectly well that it isn't yours,” he assured. “But could you find out for me where it's coming from? You'll get to play about in your element for a while if you do this, I thought you'd enjoy that.”

Storm grinned and nodded, and was about to take off when he paused and held up a finger.

“You want company?” Touya guessed.

Storm nodded.

Touya chuckled. “Thunder, right?”

Storm nodded again, grinning widely.

“Alright. Thunder?” he summoned.

The large animal-like card erupted from where it was kept as well.

“Feel like a run? I want to know who made this storm, and I'd quite like it gone in the morning too, if you both don't mind,” he added.

The two cards nodded, Storm climbed onto Thunder's back, and then they were off. Touya watched them for a moment before heading inside to grab his things. He had to get going too, he had work.

~oOo~

Touya decided that the best way to get away from Akizuki – the new student – during school hours would be to jump the fence. That suited him fine, he wanted to check on Sakura. There was a new student in her class too, and he wanted to make sure she wasn't being bugged the same way _he_ was.

She was standing at the window to the music room when he found her, listening to Daidouji practise her singing while a boy played the piano.

“Bravo,” he called when the song was over, lifting Sakura by her waist into the room through the open window before climbing in himself.

“Onii-chan!” Sakura objected.

He just laughed.

“Onii-chan, this is Hiiragizawa Eriol-kun, the new student who transferred here from England,” Sakura introduced.

Touya frowned. That was the same as the new irritant in _his_ class, and this kid was actively masking the amount of magic he had in him. Sakura probably couldn't even tell when the new gaki put a spell on the piano.

“Would you please excuse us,” Touya said to the boy. “But I would like to talk to my imouto and her friend in private.”

Hiiragizawa nodded and stood. “I'll see you both in class,” he said to the girls, and bowed politely to Touya – as he was older – before he left the room.

“Onii-chan?” Sakura asked, curious.

He sighed and sat down in front of the piano. “He's dangerous Sakura,” he told her flatly.

“Eh?!” both girls yelped.

“But, Hiiragizawa-kun is really nice,” Sakura objected.

“Doesn't make him less dangerous,” he answered as he lay his fingers on the piano keys. “Song, will you sing a duet with Daidouji-san if I play?”

The card was instantly out and smiling brightly at the prospect.

“For instance,” Touya continued to Sakura as he started to play. “He put a spell on this piano right under your nose, and you didn't notice. I'm unweaving it now while those two sing,” he explained.

Sakura blinked in surprise. “W-what kind of spell?” she asked nervously.

“One that would have this piano crashing all over the place chasing after Daidouji-san every time she spoke or sang a note,” Touya informed her gently. “That could destroy the room, the piano, and potentially really hurt your friend.”  
“Why would Hiiragizawa-kun do that?” Sakura asked.

“We'd have to ask _him_ that,” Touya answered. “But for now I want you to be careful with anything he touches and leaves around, alright?”

Sakura nodded, clearly frightened by this speech from her big brother. “I can't even defend myself against magic any more,” she whispered. “I'm useless.”

“You are not,” he said firmly, though his touch on the piano keys was still light. “You're a bit fluffy in the head sometimes, and you're a kaijuu of course, but you're not useless.”

“I'm not a kaijuu,” Sakura objected, though there was less heat behind the objection than there usually was.

The warning bell sounded then, summoning all students back to their classes, and cutting off Touya before he got a chance to say anything else. At least he'd gotten the spell off the piano.

“We'll talk about it when we get home,” he instructed. “Song, time to go.”

She nodded and returned to her card form.

“Be good in class,” Touya instructed, and left them to head over to the senior campus again and return to his own class.

~oOo~

It was something of a family meeting that was held in the lounge room that evening. Fujitaka was at a dig, so he was absent, but Yue and Kero were both present as Touya sat Sakura down to talk about the things that were happening in their lives right now.

“What's this about anyway?” Kero asked from his seat on the coffee table.

“Among other things? That the transfer student in Sakura's class put a magic on a baby-grand piano at her school,” Touya said. “And the description brought back to me by Storm and Thunder of the person behind the rain a few days ago fit that same student.”

“So he has magic and isn't very nice with how he uses it,” Kero summarised. “So?”

“So without the Clow Cards and the Key, I can't do any magic to protect myself,” Sakura answered, her hands fisted together over her knees and her head bowed.

“And I can't always come to the rescue either, since I have work a lot,” Touya added.

“I didn't even know Hiiragizawa-kun had done anything to the piano until Onii-chan said,” Sakura whispered, both frightened of what this could mean and ashamed that she'd missed the threat.

“So learn to notice,” Yue suggested. “And learn other magic as well. Clow made the cards so that he could do certain magics easier, but they weren't the extent of his magical ability.”

Touya nodded in agreement. “The gaki has some other tricks, and he hasn't left for Hong Kong yet. We'll get him to teach you some of that. As for learning to sense things...” Touya looked up at the ceiling as he thought of what he could do.

He snapped his fingers and smiled a few seconds later. “Maze will help you get better at sensing things.”

“Maze?” Sakura and Kero asked at the same time.

Touya nodded. “I'll put the Key in the middle of a maze and send you to find it. When you've done that and gotten out again, I'll put the Key back in the middle of a new maze that's a little harder than the one before it. You'll have to rely on your senses to get you in to where I've put the Key and out again to where I, Kero, Yue or _Yukito_ will be waiting for you.”

“That sounds hard,” Sakura said, sagging in her seat.

“But it will help,” Yue countered firmly. “And in my disguise as Yukito, I'll be harder to sense, so that is something that will come later.”

Kero nodded. “It will help Sakura,” he promised, patting her hand with his paw. “And with practice you will get better. You got stronger as you collected the Cards in the first place, this isn't _so_ different.”

“There's no other option?” Sakura asked quietly.

“The other option is to give up your magic completely,” Touya answered. “The gaki and anyone with magic will notice the change, and they should leave you alone then.”

Sakura blinked in surprise. “Give up my magic?” she asked.

“You wouldn't feel the presence of ghosts any more, and you would be as normal as Daidouji-san as far as magical ability goes,” Touya answered with a nod.

“I need to think about that,” Sakura decided quietly.

Touya nodded. Of course she did. It wasn't something to give up lightly after all. “In the mean time, you will be careful around that boy and practice with Maze.”

Sakura nodded.

“I'll let Daidouji know you have magic practice as well, I'm sure she'll enjoy dressing you up and video-taping the whole affair,” Touya added with a slightly teasing smile.

“Onii-chan!”

Even Yue laughed at Sakura's outraged and embarrassed cry, though from him it was just a soft chuckle.

That was a new development. Ever since the Judgement, whenever Yukito stayed the night at the Kinomoto house or Touya had stayed over with Yuki, both of which had happened more often than not during the summer, Touya used the Dream card to help Yuki and Yue integrate and become one person again, as they were supposed to be. It meant Yue was more cheerful now, and Yuki was a little more possessive of Touya than he had been before, something Touya was quietly very happy about.

Yue laughing was a good sign of progress being made in that area.

~oOo~

Sakura sighed as she stared at the teddy bear she was making. It wasn't coming right. She'd asked Rika for help already, so it was better than it had been, but it still looked like Kero-chan.

“I'll ask Rika-chan later, or maybe Onii-chan. He's good at things like this,” she mumbled, putting the bear away again.

The day before, she'd gone to the craft shop after school with Tomoyo, Li-kun and Eriol-kun. She'd then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on homework, getting in and out of the maze Touya had made for her with the Maze card, and making her bear. There had been a moment while she was stitching that she'd felt a magical presence, but she didn't hold the cards any more, so it wasn't her place to run off and investigate it.

She'd told Touya about it instead.

“Ah,” he'd agreed. “I felt it. But it's just a power-spike, meant to lure other magical people to a place. Nothing is happening yet. We'll have lunch together tomorrow though, make sure.”

Well, her free period was almost over and it was almost time for lunch. She'd find Tomoyo and Li-kun and invite them to eat with her and Onii-chan and Yukito-san.

Finding them didn't take long, and they both agreed to share lunch with her and the two twelfth-grade students, who were exactly where Touya told Sakura they would be – on the elementary side of the fence that was beside where the track on the senior school side was.

“You've been hanging about that new gaki in your class, haven't you gaki?” Touya said as Li sat down.

“He sits next to me,” he grumbled. “I don't like him, and don't call me gaki.”

Touya reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the cards there, sifting through them until he found the one he was looking for. “Erase, can you take the strings off the gaki that got put there by the other gaki please?” he asked.

“Strings?” Li yelped, waving his arms about looking for them.

“'Other gaki'?” Tomoyo asked.

“Onii-chan means Hiiragizawa-kun,” Sakura clarified. “Onii-chan, yesterday when we went to the craft shop, Li-kun said he wanted to be on hand when I was working with magic, so he could make sure I don't do anything reckless. That's a good idea, isn't it?” she suggested.

Touya looked between Li and Sakura. “Who's 'we'?” he asked.

“Li-kun, Tomoyo-chan, Hiiragizawa-kun and me,” Sakura answered.

“The other gaki probably heard that then,” Touya decided. “That's why there was that spike of power last night we felt. With strings around the gaki, and you out together, who knows what could have happened?”

Yukito sighed. “You are very negative about this Touya,” he observed.

Touya shrugged and returned the changed Erase card to the deck with the others and then into his pocket. “I thought I told you to be careful around that gaki,” he said.

Sakura nodded. “It was just a trip to the craft shop, and Tomoyo-chan and Li-kun were there too,” she defended.

Touya sighed. “He's in your class and he sits near you,” he said, laying a gentle hand on top of Sakura's head. “I know you're going to interact with him at least _some_ , just be very aware of things he does, alright?”

Sakura nodded again.

“That goes for you two as well,” he added, looking at Tomoyo and Li.

Tomoyo smiled and nodded, but Li was a bit surprised at the apparent concern from a person who he knew didn't like him. Of course it _was_ good advice.

“Sakura, how's your bear going?” Tomoyo asked, changing the subject.

“Oh!” Sakura yelped, scrambling for the bag it was being kept in. “I'm having some troubles. It looks like Kero-chan no matter what I do,” she explained, bringing it out to show and handing it to Touya.

“I like it this way,” Yukito said with a smile as he looked at it over Touya's shoulder. “It's very cute.”

“But if you want it to look like a bear, you should bring the eyes closer together and make the ears smaller and higher up on the head,” Touya said before handing it back to Sakura, who for a moment looked unsure as to whether she wanted to change it or not. “What about you two?” he asked, turning to Tomoyo and Li once Sakura had made her decision and pulled out her scissors. “You went to the craft store together?”

“I bought some things for the clothes I make for Sakura-chan,” Tomoyo answered with a bright, happy smile. “Li-kun bought a bear kit though.”

Li proceeded to turn red before fetching out the bear that he had made. It had grey fur, rather than the brown fur Sakura had used, but it looked properly like a bear rather than like Kero-chan.

“Are you going to give it to anyone?” Yuki asked. “That's the thing to do with hand-made bears isn't it?”

“If you make a bear yourself, then give it to someone who you care about and name the bear after yourself, you're supposed to stay in love forever!” Tomoyo confirmed happily, a dreamy look on her face.

“You're all too young to be thinking about forever,” Touya pronounced firmly. “No 'forevers' until you're at least sixteen and certain of the other person's feelings as well.”

“ _Eh_?!” Sakura and Li yelped at the same time.

Yukito nodded beside Touya. “It's a good point,” he said, a little sadly. “What if you decided that you would love someone forever, but when you confessed to them they were in love with someone else? Even then, forever doesn't really last. Clow was Yue's number one person, and he didn't want another master after Clow passed because of it.”

Touya reached out and pulled Yuki to him gently, being supportive of his friend and of Yue at the same time.

“But if he'd held onto that 'forever' then Touya wouldn't have the cards now, and Yue would still be hurting a lot from Clow's death,” Yuki continued, smiling up at Touya. “Yue still hurts a bit anyway, but not as much and now he doesn't think about it often at all, because Touya takes good care of us. Touya's Yue's new number one person.” Yuki tilted his head a little, his gaze searching for something in Touya's face.

Touya smiled a little and brushed his nose against the side of Yukito's face, through his hair beside his ear.

Yuki's answering smile was bright and hopeful.

They had things to talk about when they could find some time to just themselves.

“Oh,” the three fifth-graders said in quiet understanding, their heads bowed.

“Wish someone had said something like that to Meilin,” Li grumbled. “She decided she'd be my fiancé back when we were five.”

“But she said that she would be your bride unless you found someone who you really loved,” Tomoyo teased. “She's just looking out for your future.”

“Ch,” Touya grumbled, turning away. “Annoying kid gave up and moved on before she left for Hong Kong.”

“ _Eeh_?!” Again, it was a Sakura and Li chorus of surprise.

“Damn prophetic dreaming and hitsuzen,” Touya grumbled. “I hate knowing bits of the future, but I wasn't about to see the brat waste away waiting for something that wasn't ever going to happen when she could find happiness somewhere else.”

Sakura and Li stared with open mouths and blatant shock all over their faces, Tomoyo just blinked in surprise.

Yukito smiled. “Touya is finally admitting to having a big heart underneath his cool exterior,” he said happily.

~oOo~

Touya was at work when he got a call from Sakura. The brat had called her saying he'd felt a powerful magical presence coming from the direction of the park.

“You will _stay home_ ,” Touya ordered. “I'll check it out on my way back from work. It's not doing anything active right now, leave it be.”

“What about Li-kun?” Sakura asked over the phone. “Or Kero-chan?”

“I have no authority over the gaki,” he answered, “but you can tell him what I'm doing if you feel you must. As for Kero, make sure he doesn't eat my share of dessert, but he's to stay with you.”

“Alright,” Sakura agreed. “Take care Onii-chan,” she said.

“Don't burn dinner,” Touya answered, then hung up before she could start yelling at him.

As promised, he headed for the park before returning home.

“Mist,” he called, aware of a presence that was just _watching_ the area. “Can you hide everything please? Hold off on the rotting away at things, just hide.”

Conveniently, there was the river running through the park, so Mist could use that as a base to roll off the covering Touya had asked for.

When he got to the penguin park area however, there was something decidedly off about the way things were arranged. Touya sighed.

“Dark? Light? Would you see what's at the bottom of that hole?” he asked. “I don't want to charge off into the unknown if I can help it. Please?” he asked again.

“Since you asked so nicely,” Light answered.

“And since you've been taking such good care of all the other cards and our guardians,” Dark agreed.

Then the two of them dived into the hole. They came up a moment later.

“It's just a hole,” Light said.

“With a spell on it,” Dark added.

“But still just a hole,” Touya finished with a nod. “Thank you, both, very much,” he said with a smile, and accepted them back as cards once more and returning them to his pocket.

“We weren't sure about the new colours,” Light admitted in a soft whisper.

“But you really do take good care of us,” Dark finished, just as softly.

“Earthy, I need this hole filled. It wouldn't be good for children playing here to fall in,” Touya said, drawing out her card and another. Once the hole was filled in, Touya gave his attention to the other card. “Feel like helping me put this thing back in it's right spot, Power?” he asked. “Or do you want to do it on your own?”

The little girl burst from the card and ran over to the king penguin, happily picking it up herself and putting it back down where it was supposed to be, giving a happy grin when she was done that sparked soft laughter from Touya.

“Very impressive,” he praised. “Shall we go home now?”

Power nodded and returned to her card form, with all her new crest and blue replacing the red on the back of her card.

Touya climbed onto his bike again and Mist followed him home, returning to her card form only when he got off again at the gate.

“Thank you,” he said again before tucking the card back into his pocket with all the others.

~oOo~

It was a Sunday and he had work again, no surprises. What was odd was that he'd forgotten something back at home, so he had to go back and fetch it.

“Can you stop for dinner?” Fujitaka asked.

“No, I have to get back now,” he answered, the spotted his bike. The place he was working at the moment wasn't far away, so he had elected to walk rather than ride. “Sakura,” he called. “My bike?”

“Hiiragizawa-kun came by while I was sweeping the yard and moved it while I swept near it before moving it back. I tried to tell him it was alright and he didn't need to help, but he wouldn't take no for an answer,” she supplied. “Is something wrong?”

Touya sighed and nodded. “I'll deal with it after work,” he said. “Don't worry about it.” Then he picked up the last of the fried shrimp on her plate and dropped it into his own mouth. He was hungry after all, even if he didn't really have time to stop to eat. He ate quickly and at the door withdrew a card.

“My workplace is just down the block, want to run with me?” he asked it.

The fuzzy little creature leaped happily out of its card and looked up and down the street.

“It's this way Dash,” Touya told it, pointing the direction with a smile.

The little critter hopped onto Touya's shoulder and gave a chirp. Touya took off faster than he ever had before. Before going in, he gave the Dash a scratch behind the ears and a stroke down its back, then tucked the card back into his pocket, now in the blue colour that came when the cards changed.

It was just a cleaning job at this hour, and there was one person assigned to each floor of the function centre for cleaning up in the evenings – the wait staff during the day were supposed to keep the place fairly clean as well after all. So he did a little plotting.

“Voice, can you steal Akizuki's tomorrow?” he asked quietly. “I know it isn't a pretty voice like you like to collect, and of course you can't keep it for that long, but if she can't talk for a full day then that will be a good start to the week.”

A happy laugh was his answer. Voice would help him out.

“It's mid-autumn now, so the first really serious frosts will be coming soon. Freeze, you'll get to make patterns on the windows, which I'm sure you'll enjoy more than just keeping ice creams cold during the summer, and Flower, I'll need your help for the flowers in the class room when it's my turn to do the class chores,” he continued.

Two positive feelings were his answer. Yes, they'd be pleased with these activities.

According to a note left by the manager, one of the large tables needed to be moved in readiness for a conference. That would take at least two people. Possibly more. Not just because it was a heavy table, but because large things were awkward to shift.

“Mirror, Twin, would you please lend me a hand for this?” he asked.

Another Touya and the two yellow children from the Twin card stood before him, bright smiles on their faces.

“I've still got to get you those ribbons for your hair,” Touya told the Mirror with a smile of his own.

“This is obviously not the time,” she answered from his face and in his voice, still smiling. “Where does the table have to go?”

“Out into the storage room,” he answered. “Twins, could you please take the sides? Mirror, you take that end. I'll lead, so if there's something in the way I can spot it in enough time to ask Through to help us out as well. How's that sound for a plan?”

The other three nodded in agreement, and Through herself materialised before him giving a sloppy salute briefly, indicating that she was ready and willing to help as well.

“Thank you,” Touya said to her with a smile.

Through bobbed her head happily and waited by the door.

~oOo~

“You're in a good mood today Touya,” Yukito greeted the next morning.

Touya halted his bike – he'd removed the spell without much difficulty the night before while Sakura was training her magic with Maze, he hadn't even needed to use a card to remove the spell – and smiled at his friend. “Voice has agreed to steal Akizuki's voice for the day,” he answered happily.

Yukito laughed suddenly and quickly brought up a hand to try and stifle the sound. “That's not kind Touya,” he scolded, even as he failed to calm his laughter. It seemed to get worse even, as now his shoulders were shaking as well and he'd had to wrap his other arm around his stomach. “When?”

“Voice went out late last night,” Touya answered. “Akizuki woke up without her ability to speak. Maybe she'll stay home.”

Yukito laughed even harder, and eventually only calmed down because he had to force himself to breathe, deeply, or he'd have passed out from laughing so hard.

When they got to school, it turned out that she _wasn't_ there, and had sent a note saying she had lost her voice.

It was a peaceful day and much appreciated by more people than just Touya and Yukito. Though for some reason a bunch of the girls missed Akizuki's presence. There was just no accounting for taste.

~oOo~

Sakura was staring at an old calendar at breakfast. One that had belonged to their mother, so it had everybody's birthdays written on it, even Touya's, who's birthday hadn't actually happened that year, since he was born on the twenty-ninth of February.

Touya was on class chores, and asked Flower to give him some nadeshiko flowers. Seeing that calendar had made him a bit sentimental he supposed.

Sentiment drew him to the music room as well, where he sat down in front of the piano and started playing the song she had written when he was little, and had taught him to play.

When he'd finished it, applause from the corner of the room caught his attention.

“You're very good, Touya,” Yukito complimented with a smile, happy and genuine, as he walked over from where he'd entered through the door at the farther end of the classroom.

He started playing again.

“It's a song I've never heard before,” Yuki observed.

“Okaa-san composed it,” Touya answered, focusing on the keys, though he was very aware of his friend standing beside him.

“It's lovely,” Yuki said.

“Yeah,” Touya agreed, and looked up to see Yuki's eyes closed in bliss as he just enjoyed the music. “Yuki...”

“Yes?”

“I... that is...” he began, deciding that _this_ was the perfect moment to tell Yuki how he felt about him.

“Amazing!” The moment was ruined.

Both boys flinched, Touya's hands slamming down on the keys in a horrible mess of sound.

“Not her,” he whined under his breath. “Shield?” he asked as Akizuki climbed through the window and began bouncing over to them, still yelling “Amazing!” at them. “Keep her away from Yukito and me? Please?”

“Touya-kun, you can play the piano-ooo!” the last of what she said extended in her surprise at bouncing back when she'd tried to grab onto Touya.

Touya breathed a relieved sigh, while Yuki raised an arch eyebrow over his glasses. “Are you alright there, Akizuki-san?” he asked, his tone barely hiding his amusement.

“She's fine,” Touya growled. “She landed on her head. Sleep, will you please keep her from interrupting for a little while? Just until the end of lunch bell sounds.”

The pixie-sized boy rose out of Touya's pocket, gave a wink, and flew over to the currently dizzy girl, putting her properly to sleep. Her head thumped against the floor a second time once she'd fallen asleep.

Yuki laughed softly. “'She's fine, she landed on her head'?” he repeated, letting his amusement show.

Touya shrugged, uncaring of what injuries Akizuki accrued.

“What were you saying before Touya?” Yukito asked.

“I have time free Friday evening,” he said, losing his nerve and keeping his eyes on the piano instead of looking at his friend. “If nothing comes up, I was thinking of using the Fly card. Would you like to go flying together?”

Yuki smiled. “Me, or Yue?” he asked.

Touya frowned. “I thought you were the same person by now,” he said.

“Nearly,” Yuki agreed with a shake of his head. “A day with the Change card and one more night with Dream and we should be completely reconciled.”

Touya nodded. “We can do that this weekend if you like,” he offered.

“Thank you,” Yuki agreed, nodding.

“But you know, I could fly with Yue for a while, then use the Float for the two of us together,” Touya said, bringing the conversation back around to what he was actually asking.

Yuki smiled. “I'd like that,” he agreed.

Touya smiled back.

When he got home that day, Sakura asked him to help her make a gift for their great-grandfather's birthday, since she'd found out that it was that very day from their mother's calendar. She wanted him to record the song that their mother Nadeshiko had written, and she needed flowers to give with the gift as well.

“Sure thing Kaijuu,” he agreed with a shake of his head and a fond smile. “Otou-san, will you be able to get it to Great-Grandfather in time?” he asked, aware that it was quite late. “Or will I need to ask the Time card for help?”

Fujitaka nodded in answer with a smile of his own. “I'll call Sonomi-kun to deliver them. For this, she'll help.”

Touya nodded in understanding and fetched out the tape recorder.

When he got back from work the following day, there was a package from Great-Grandfather for him – as thanks for the gift. Sakura had received a thank-you gift as well, a blue dress that looked like it had belonged to their mother when she was Sakura's age. Inside _his_ package though, there was a book for writing music in and a photo album full of pictures of Nadeshiko from before she married Fujitaka.

~oOo~

Touya landed carefully in Yukito's back garden. He was safely on the ground once more, the wings that had sprouted on his back through the use of Fly disappeared, and Yue had just landed beside him.

“So, how did you enjoy flying?” Yue asked.

Touya sighed in pleasure. “Very much,” he answered, a wondering smile on his face.

“Now, I believe you promised a ride on Float with Yukito,” Yue said with a smile of his own, then changed into his other form.

“Touya?” Yuki asked hopefully.

Touya chuckled and withdrew the card. “A nice gentle drifting through the night sky,” he answered.

Float surrounded them with a soft and pale purple glow, and lifted them off the ground.

“This is nice,” Yuki decided, sitting down in the bubble that was carrying them. “Like the ferris wheel, but better.”

“Aa,” Touya agreed, folding his own legs so that he was seated beside his best friend. He pulled out another card. The Glow. “We're having a nice night,” he told the card. “Will you make it beautiful?”

Red became blue, the magic circle on the back of the card altered, and the little pixie sprang from her card and started drifting around, scattering soft glowing lights as she went.

“It's beautiful,” Yukito said, smiling. “Thank you, Glow.”

“Yes,” Touya agreed. “Thank you, Glow.”

They floated in silence for a while longer, and Touya braced his nerve. There would probably never be a better time than right then to tell Yuki how he felt about him.

“Yuki,” he said, looking at the paler boy.

“Yes Touya?” Yuki answered, turning as well.

Dark and light brown eyes locked, and Touya made himself say it. “You're my number one, Yuki.”

Yuki smiled in answer and leant into Touya's chest. “You're my number one as well Touya,” he answered contently.

When the two friends returned to school on Monday, Yukito and Yue were fully and properly reconciled and there were less than ten cards left still wearing Clow's red colouring. Yuki was also smiling even more often than before, and he had always smiled a lot, so that was really saying something.

~oOo~

“Hiiragizawa slipped a leaf into Sakura's book for a bookmark, and talked about taking her off to see Alice's kingdom,” Li explained, holding out the book to Touya.

“I'd assumed he meant it as an offer to show her England some day,” Tomoyo said, distressed. “I didn't think anything of the bookmark.”

“Can you get her out?” Li asked.

Touya sighed. “I tell her to be careful,” he said, taking the book. “Kaijuu is both reckless and forgetful. Shadow, will you bring the other gaki here please?”

A dark smear on the ground darted away into the bushes, and soon enough returned carrying Hiiragizawa, holding the boy tightly.

“Troublemaking gaki,” Touya said firmly, more than just a hint of a growl in his voice. “I'm the only one who is allowed to mess with my imouto.”

He didn't take his eyes off of the captured boy when he clenched one hand into a fist over the book that Sakura was trapped in and then pulled it away sharply. The book opened and Sakura fell out.

“Onii-chan!” she cried, launching herself at his legs – which were closest as she'd landed on her rear on the ground – and holding tightly. “I was so scared! None of the magic I'd learned from Li-kun worked there, and I could sense the way out but I couldn't reach it!”

Touya passed the book to Tomoyo and knelt down to wrap his arms around Sakura. “You're alright now,” he reassured her. “When you vanished into your book Li-gaki brought you straight to me. You're alright now,” he repeated.

“Li-kun did?” she asked, looking up from her brother for the first time.

Li blushed when she looked at him then, but nodded.

“Thank you Li-kun,” Sakura said, smiling just a little as she sniffed and wiped away her tears.

“I don't understand,” Hiiragizawa said quietly. “Why didn't Sakura-san just use the Fly card to reach the exit if she could tell where it was?”

Touya narrowed his eyes. “You have clearly been misinformed,” he stated, and withdrew the Return. “You are acting under the misapprehension that Sakura is the Mistress of the Cards.”

“She isn't?” Hiiragizawa asked, surprised. “But it was always going to be!”

“My lady, will you show this boy what happened at the Last Judgement?” Touya asked the card.

A woman dressed in a similar style to Time and carrying a blue winged clock stepped into being, and looked from Touya to Hiiragizawa then back, and nodded once.

“That's really impressive,” Li said in quiet awe as Hiiragizawa disappeared from where he had been held and reappeared on the face of the clock.

The simple blue sheen of the clock face was replaced by the scene of the shrine and the Tokyo Tower, where everybody was present and the Judgement was taking place.

“It's supposed to take a _lot_ of magic to use the Return and the Time,” Li pointed out.

Touya shrugged. “Grandfather Time has been helping me get all my study done for a while,” he said. “I've never noticed any _particular_ drain.”

“It's because of Touya's type of magic,” Yukito supplied, walking up to the group then.

“Type?” Sakura asked.

Yukito nodded. “Clow's magic was of the Dark, of the space in between everything. It went on for a long time, but it didn't do anything and it didn't support anything. Your magic, Sakura-chan, is of the Stars. Remember, back during the Judgement, how you changed the wand? That was proof of you having a different type of magic. The light is there, and it will always be there, but it is faint. It has the potential to be more than the Dark, because it is light, and light will always break the dark. At the moment though, it's still just a small light.”

Sakura nodded in understanding. “But what's Onii-chan's then?” she asked.

“The Planets,” Touya answered. “Apparently.”

“The Planets?” Sakura asked slowly, trying to understand what that meant.

“Mm,” Yukito said with a nod. “The world was here before Clow made the Cards, and all the other planets too. They're always there, whether we notice them or not, and the planet takes care of us every day. It sees everything that happens, and will still be watching even when we are gone. Touya's magic is like this.”

“Which means that using cards like Time and Return don't drain me like they would drain just about anybody else,” Touya said. “And that's not arrogance, just fact.”

“Now, don't you three have something you're supposed to be doing?” Yukito asked kindly. “We'll return Hiiragizawa-san when the time is right, don't worry.”

“Ah! Our book reports!” Tomoyo cried, remembering what they had been doing before Sakura got sucked into her book.  
Sakura grabbed _Alice in Wonderland_ and followed Li and Tomoyo back to the library after thanking Touya for saving her one more time.

Hiiragizawa was ejected from Return's clock face just as Sakura rounded a corner and was out of sight.

“Thank you,” Touya said to the card.

She bowed in answer and resumed her form as a card once more.

“When Kaho told me that something unexpected had happened, I did not think she meant _that_ ,” the boy said with a groan as he pulled himself into a sitting position on the ground.

“The cards aren't yours to play with any more,” Touya said firmly.

Yukito's eyes got big behind their glasses then, and he whipped his head around to properly stare at Hiiragizawa. “Clow,” he breathed.

“It certainly explains the nuisance in our class,” Touya quipped.

Yukito's jaw clenched tightly. “You made new Guardians?” he demanded harshly, his face twisting in a pained snarl almost, and his fists tight at his sides. “You're supposed to be dead. Why are you even here in that form?”

Touya moved behind Yuki and wrapped his arms around his friend, pulling the pale boy's back flush against his own chest. “Know that no answer you give will be good enough,” he told the boy. “You told Yue and Keroberos to find a new master and move on, they've done that. Now you're the one saying they're not allowed to by going where you are no longer needed and interfering as though the Cards and their Guardians were still yours. _They are not_ ,” Touya said firmly, flaring his power briefly.

Hiiragizawa gulped. He had not expected this sort of confrontation. He had not expected this much power. For a few long moments, the air around them was still and tense.

“Onii-sama!” Kero called, showing in that title that he really had spent a lot of time around Sakura, to pick up calling Touya 'big brother'. “I felt your magic lashing out. What's happened?” asked the little plushy as he flew down to join them.

“This troublesome gaki made Sakura cry,” Touya answered with a growl.

“Clow isn't quite as dead as we thought,” Yukito added tightly. “And he made _new_ Guardians for himself.”

“ _Whaat_?!” Kero exclaimed, indignant at first, but then he noticed how tense Yukito was and, rather than railing at Hiiragizawa for his actions, instead flew over to his little brother. “Oh, Yue, it's okay. We've got Onii-sama now. We don't need Clow. Onii-sama takes care of us now.”

“Scram, troublemaking gaki,” Touya ordered coldly. “Before I rip your magic out of your body.”

Hiiragizawa obeyed with alacrity and fear on his face.

“I should do that anyway, if he's only going to cause people trouble with it,” Touya grumbled, burying his nose in Yuki's hair.

“Touya, you won't ever leave us, will you?” Yukito asked, twisting around in Touya's hold.

Touya sighed, his eyes sad and soft. “I'm still human,” he answered gently. “Some day I _will_ die, that can't be helped.”

Yuki bit down on a sob, clenching his eyes shut and his teeth together.

“But,” Touya continued, “I'll do my best to make sure that I'm still with you for a very long time, and I won't leave you when I die, just like Okaa-san still visits sometimes, I'll stay. I love you too much to just leave after all.”

“Touya!” Yuki said, tears in his eyes and a weak but grateful smile on his face.

“Onii-sama,” Kero echoed, the same expression on his round face as well as he hovered just off Yuki's shoulder.

Beneath them, a magic circle sprung up, glowing a deep gold. Right in front of them a new card spun into existence. There was no name at the bottom, but the picture was a heart with wings and a crown. Touya held out a hand and the card flew to him.

“You will be needed soon,” he said softly, though his expression was slightly confused. He gave a sigh before slipping the new card into his pocket.

“Touya?”

“Onii-sama?”

He shook his head. “For now, don't worry about it,” he advised. “That card isn't finished yet.”

~oOo~

Sakura's class was running a tea and sweets shop for a bazaar at her school.

“Sweets?” Kero asked, already dreaming of gorging himself.

“Will you come Yukito-san?” Sakura asked hopefully.

“Sure,” Yuki agreed with a smile.

“Onii-sama?” Kero begged. “Can I go too?”

Touya chuckled. “You can't be seen,” he reminded the little yellow plush. “Little can solve that for us though. No one will see you and you can eat your fill less conspicuously.”

“Yay! Wahoo! Sweets!” Kero cheered, flying around the room in his excitement.

On the day, they happily settled themselves down at a table in Sakura's class – after wandering around the other stalls on their way of course. There really were a _lot_ of sweets at this bazaar. All different kinds too. There were also balloons, and toys, and clothes, and a second-hand stall, and all sorts of things, but the sweets were most plentiful and were what interested Kero the most.

Sakura brought their order.

“Thank you for inviting us Sakura-chan,” Yukito said with a smile once she'd set the tea down on the table he and Touya had claimed. “You look very cute today.”

“Really?” she asked nervously.

“Really,” Yuki confirmed.

“Oi Sakura, that troublemaking gaki hasn't been giving you any more problems, has he?” Touya asked, taking a cupcake out of the basket of sweets and setting it down next to where a tiny Kero was waiting. “He's here, isn't he?”

“Hiiragizawa-kun is here,” Sakura confirmed. “But he hasn't done anything else.”

Touya smiled. “That's good. What about Li-gaki?”

Sakura laughed. “You're actually calling Syaoran-kun by his name a little bit,” she said with a smile. “I'm glad.”

Touya blinked. “You call him Syaoran?” he asked. “Since when?”

“The teddy bear festival,” Sakura answered. “He asked me to call him that, and asked if he could call me Sakura.”

Touya sighed. “It begins,” he complained.

“Eh?” Yuki and Sakura both asked.

Touya shook his head. “No,” he said. “It may be hitsuzen, but I'm not happy about it, so I'm not telling.”

“Onii-chan is being odd,” Sakura decided. “I'll go bring you another basket of sweets. Even that small, Kero will eat a lot, and I'm used to Yukito-san's healthy appetite by now.”

“Thank you Sakura,” Touya called after her.

“Sister complex,” Yuki teased quietly. “What's this you were talking about hitsuzen? You've mentioned it before, and didn't explain yourself then either.”

Touya shrugged. “Sakura and Li-gaki will live happily ever after, and she won't need me to look out for her any more. That's why I don't like Li-gaki,” he answered. “He'll take Sakura away from me.”

“But you've got us now,” Yuki reminded softly, laying a hand over Touya's arm.

Touya smiled. “That's true,” he agreed, wrapping his other hand around Yuki's where it was resting on his arm.

“Ah! Touya-kun!”

The two boys flinched. Touya's hand grabbing Yukito's tighter, while Yuki's fingers clenched around the cloth-covered arm beneath his hand and those of Touya's fingers that had found their way in as well.

“I bet she's here because of the troublemaking gaki,” Touya grumbled as Akizuki bounced over and sat down in the chair next to him. “Silent, I would like a peaceful day with my Guardians, would you please remove this noisy person to at _least_ the other side of the room. Loop, make it so when she heads this way she ends up at the door to the room please.”

Yuki stifled chuckles behind his hand as the two cards gladly obeyed and Touya sighed in relief and said a quiet 'thank you' to the cards.

“What did I miss?” Sakura asked as she set down the second basket of sweets.

Yuki bit his lip and pointed to where Akizuki kept having to come through the door every time she tried to come over to their table – with the hand that wasn't still holding and being held by Touya. He had really begun to enjoy seeing Touya torment this particular classmate a lot more since realising that she had been created as a _new_ Guardian, as more or less his replacement by the boy who used to be Clow Reed.

Sakura sighed. “I'd better tell Hiiragizawa-kun,” she said and with a wave – and a lingering, speculative look at her brother and Yukito's still-clasped hands – turned back to the part of the room where the tea and baskets were being brought from.

Kero was carried home in Touya's pocket, still tiny, and in a sleepy haze from having eaten so much. Touya didn't use the Big card to return the plush to his normal size until the door was shut behind them.

~oOo~

It was almost Christmas time, and despite the very cold temperatures, the snow was taking its sweet time about falling. He'd gone Christmas shopping with Sakura already – they'd bought a wallet for Otou-san, he'd finally gotten those ribbons for Mirror's hair too. He'd asked her to help him out in making sure that one of his presents for Yuki – a jacket, which would be the Christmas gift as he'd already decided on what to give Yuki for his birthday – would both fit and look good on his friend, so he was able to give her the ribbons when they stopped for hot chocolate before heading home.

“Still no snow,” Touya observed at the door of their house. He brought out the Snow card. “I hope it snows soon, so you can play in it. If it doesn't snow by Christmas Eve though, is it alright for me to ask you to make it snow?”

A happy feeling came from the card in his hand, indicating that she clearly liked this idea.

Touya nodded to himself and followed Sakura inside. When Christmas came around, he _did_ have to call on Snow for the layer of white he'd hoped would fall naturally, but that was alright too. She still got to enjoy building snow people, Freeze and Watery made ice sculptures together to go on the table for decorations, and Kero loved that Touya asked Sweet to make his present, since he thought food was always the best gift.

Yuki liked his presents too. As well as the jacket that Touya had picked out with help from Sakura and Mirror, Touya gave his friend two framed pictures for Yuki's birthday. The first one was of the two of them when they were sitting together in the sky with Float, surrounded by Glow, and the second was when Touya had been flying with Yue. He'd needed to ask Return for her help to be able to take those pictures, but he'd managed it, and the smile on Yuki's face was proof that he'd done well.

“My present isn't much to look at,” Yuki said, bringing out a small box wrapped in green. “But please accept it.”

Inside the little box was a set of keys on a keyring with a small white rabbit in the middle of a blue circle hanging from it.

“Yuki,” Touya said quietly, staring at the keys.

Yuktio smiled hopefully. “They're to my house,” he said. “Since I'm not _really_ living with my grandparents, and with everything else, I thought you should have a set of keys. And...”

“And?”

“And, maybe, when we're finished school, you would like to move in with me?” Yuki asked, blushing a little bit and completely unable to look Touya in the eye.

Touya smiled. “I'd like that very much,” he answered. “But you know, I can't just leave Kero at home, he'd have to come too.”

Yuki laughed, clearly relieved, as his blush faded a little. “I don't mind having Keroberos around the house,” he said. “You forget that he's my older brother, and I lived with him for a long time before we ever met.”

Touya's smile grew and softened. “Alright then,” he said with a nod. “To celebrate graduation, when that time comes, I move in with you.”

Yuki beamed happily. “Thank you Touya,” he said. He was practically radiating happiness.

When they told Kero, Sakura and Fujitaka their plans while sharing their New Year Feast just a week later, Fujitaka was a bit sad at first, but declared it a reason for a toast and fetched out sake to toast the plan – and juice for Sakura to drink instead of alcohol.

“You'll still visit us, won't you Touya-kun?” Fujitaka said, worry written on his face.

Touya smiled his best reassuring smile. “Of course I will Otou-san,” he answered. “But I'm not moving out yet. I've still got to finish school first.”

“Moving in and out takes a while, even with magic,” Fujitaka countered. “If you want to move out when you graduate, you should start moving your things a bit before then.”

There was a lost look on the man's face though.

“I'm only going to be down the street Otou-san,” Touya reassured. “I spend the night at Yuki's house often enough anyway that you should be used to that distance.”

Fujitaka nodded, forcing a smile onto his face once more.

“And!” Sakura added with a grin. “Onii-chan works everywhere, so we'll probably still see each other anyway!”

Sakura was proven right before long when she and a group of her friends from class showed up at the new indoor swimming pool where Touya and Yukito had both gotten part time jobs at the place's parlour. They were serving cream soda, among other things, which had sent Kero's sweet tooth into raptures and he'd asked if he could come to work with them and have a cream soda.

“If you stay quiet and out of sight, you can share mine,” Yuki promised the plush with a laugh and a pat on the head.

Since the full merging of Yukito and Yue, Yuki no longer actually _needed_ to eat, but like Kero, he still enjoyed it. Also, because of his disguise as a normal person, a certain amount of eating _had_ to happen anyway.

The only problem with working at the indoor swimming pool was that the annoying Akizuki had overheard them talking about their part time jobs there, and had gotten one as well. Touya had needed to call on Shield for help a _lot_ that shift.

~oOo~

Winter was fading, but spring wasn't properly settled in either, and Touya and Yuki had been cast in opposing roles for the movie that their class was making for the upcoming school festival. At least it was better than the play they'd had to do the year before. Well, except that Akizuki was directing it, but that couldn't be helped. Oh, and that Sakura had overheard them filming a confrontational scene between him and Yuki, barged in suddenly, and then been recruited to be _in_ the movie as well. But that might have just been Touya being protective about keeping Sakura away from the annoying Akizuki.

On the next day that they had planned for filming, Akizuki moved everybody who was involved over to a large house. Hiiragizawa's house. The house that, judging from the magic saturated in the area and factoring in who Hiiragizawa _had been_ , had been the house of Clow Reed.

“Oi, Yuki,” Touya called softly, waving his friend over to an old, red, wing-backed chair that was in the room they were filming the next scene in.

“It was his favourite chair,” Yuki said quietly as he watched Touya sit.

“I'm betting it still is,” Touya answered darkly, lacing his fingers together and leaning forward, closing his eyes in concentration. “He left something else here,” he said, his tone distant and meditative. “Something he didn't tell anybody about. There will be trouble if it's just left here.” He opened his eyes. “I wonder if the troublemaking gaki knows it's here?”

“What is it Touya?” Yuki asked.

Touya looked up at his friend. “How well do you know the layout of this house?” he asked.

“Quite well. My memory is even better since you scolded Hiiragizawa-san and both aspects of myself were properly united,” Yuki answered, his tone wondering how this was answering his question.

Touya nodded. “After filming, can you take me down to the lowest level?” he requested.

“I can,” Yuki agreed, now truly bewildered. “But I don't know how Hiiragizawa-san will take that. This _is_ still his house after all,” he added, smiling a little bit.

“He'll just have to deal with it,” Touya answered, shaking his head. The sight of Sakura at the door caught his attention then, and his frown was replaced by a smile. “Kaijuu looks good in kimono,” he said.

Yuki chuckled, then looked over as well and nodded in agreement.

Sakura wasn't the only one who had come through the door however. Daidouji, Li and Hiiragizawa had all come with her. Hiiragizawa approached them first.

“Will you excuse my asking if I enquire how many Clow Cards you have still to change?” Hiiragizawa asked quietly.

“Jump, Sword, Shot and Arrow,” Touya answered, “are the only four cards I hold that are still wearing the red from when Clow had them. If you do not reign _her_ in, then she will be the target of the latter three the day after graduation in a few weeks time.”

Hiiragizawa flinched back, then smiled and chuckled nervously. “You even changed Light and Dark?”

Touya nodded solemnly, his eyes narrowed at the boy. “Keep that gluttonous nuisance of yours away from me, from Yuki, from Sakura, from Kero, and even from Li-gaki. Am I being perfectly clear, Troublemaking Gaki?” Touya asked in a dangerous calm.

Hiiragizawa nodded rapidly and ran off.

“You scare him Touya,” Yuki observed.

“Good,” Touya answered firmly, earning himself another laugh from Yuki. “A gaki his age shouldn't be so self-assured.”

~oOo~

A few hours later and the filming was over, Sakura was being walked home by Daidouji and Li-gaki, and Hiiragizawa was curled up in his big red chair nervously, thereby simultaneously occupying the full attentions of Spinel and Akizuki, as Yuki and Kero (who had arrived with Sakura) went down to the basement with Touya.

There was a table in the middle of the room, but there was no dust there despite there being a layer of the stuff on every other surface.

Touya reached into his pocket and withdrew the card that had been made the day Hiiragizawa had trapped Sakura in her book. With this card held loosely in his fingers, he approached the table.

“You'll be lonely if you stay down here,” he said quietly. “All the other cards would like it if you joined us, I'm sure.”

In the middle of the table, a card, also without a name, rose.

“Here,” he said, holding out the card in his hand. “Clow didn't take proper care of you, but this card will stay with you all the time, so you won't ever be lonely again. Will you come with me? Be with all the other cards and the Guardians? We don't want you to be lonely ever again.”

The two cards glowed a bright gold, and the card Touya had been holding shot out of his fingers towards the other.

A darkly translucent globe sprang up then, and for a moment a girl was visible inside of it, clutching the card Touya had held to her chest. Her hair was long and grey, her dress flowing, and there were wings over her head. Her eyes were rimmed with tears and there was a grateful smile on her face.

“I thought I had been forgotten,” she said. “I thought you were just taking all of my friends away from me, but you came for me too.” The girl wiped at her eyes and smiled all that much more brightly. “Thank you!”

With that she vanished, and one card flew gently over to Touya for him to catch. It had the blue colour and gold magic circle on the back, the same as all the other cards that Touya had changed, and there at the bottom of the card was the name of the card: The Hope.

“Touya?” Yuki called.

“Onii-sama?” Kero said at the same time.

He turned and smiled at them where they had been waiting for him by the door. “It's alright now,” he answered. “Let's go home. Otou-san is making dinner tonight after all. We wouldn't want to be late for it.”

“Ah! Otou-sama always makes good dinners!” Kero exclaimed happily.

“What was it Touya?” Yuki asked again as Kero flew out ahead of them.

“A lonely card,” he answered, drawing it out again and holding it up. “I knew that the card I made that day wasn't finished, and that there would be a need for it, but I didn't know how to finish it or what that need _was_ until I got here.”

~oOo~

They were sitting in the projection booth for their shift, playing the movie that they'd made for the festival.

“I know about your other self, that not even you seem to known about,” declared the Touya on the screen. “Actually, you're -”

“Not human,” Yukito cut in quietly in the booth. “The memories of my human life are all lies.”

“No,” Touya objected, wrapping a hand around one of Yuki's. “Everything from the moment we met was _definitely_ real.”

Yukito smiled softly.

“It doesn't matter what you are Yuki,” Touya reassured his friend. “You're still my number one person. As long as you're at my side, I don't care about anything else.”

Yuki chuckled softly. “But you _do_ ,” he countered happily. “As well as how much you care about me, you also take care of the cards, and you care about Sakura-chan and Fujitaka-san, and Keroberos, and even Li-kun.”

Touya shrugged. “You're still number one over all of them.”

“Even Sakura-chan?” Yukito teased. “You _do_ have a sister complex after all.”

“I don't have a sister complex,” Touya objected. “I've cherished Sakura all of her life, and I know that some day Li-gaki is going to take her away from me, so I'm making the most of how long I have her. Yuki, _you_ are my number one person.”

Yuki blushed happily and they sat a little closer together for the rest of the movie.

The only other thing that got said was: “I bet Akizuki was poking fun at us when she wrote that damn script, particularly since _she_ still thought that _Sakura_ was the one holding the cards.”

Yuki shook his head, smiling, and rested his head on Touya's shoulder while the credits at the end rolled. They stayed like that until they had to turn the lights on again at the end of the movie and their shift in the projection booth was over.

“Yukito-san! Onii-chan!” Sakura called when they exited.

She was standing with Daidouji and Li, waving to them.

Touya grabbed Yuki's hand and drew him past the admiring and complimenting girls. For once, Sakura had rescued _him_ , and she probably didn't even realise it.

“You and Yukito were really good in that movie Onii-sama,” Kero said, sticking his head out of Sakura's bag. “But can we get food now?”

“Kero-chan!” Sakura yelped before she tried to shove him back in.

Touya lay a hand on Sakura's head. “People don't notice the plushy if you don't make a fuss about him,” he assured her quietly. “And yes, Kero, we can go eat now.”

After they'd had what roughly equated to lunch, Yuki offered to play guide for the kids, and Touya happily followed behind, even having a go at getting past the basketball team when they denied Yuki. He had rather soundly thrashed them last year, so Touya didn't blame them, and he had a much tougher time of it, since his usual sport was soccer. Still, he managed to get a rabbit holding a flower and with a face like Kero for the kaijuu.

“If Li-gaki wants something, he can try and get it himself,” Touya declared, refusing to go another run. Getting just the one prize had worn him out sufficiently. “Daidouji, do you actually _want_ one of those toys?” he asked.

The girl shook her head. “Thank you,” she said, “but I'm happy,” she added, stroking her camera.

That's what he'd thought she'd say.

Li declined to try and beat the basketball team, suggesting they keep going instead. Somehow after that, the group wound up in front of the exhibit that had been made out of Touya and Yuki's classroom: “The Path of the Stars”.

Akizuki was minding it, and though she clearly _wanted_ to jump either Touya or Sakura or both, clearly Hiiragizawa had explained Touya's threats against her person if she tried any such thing.

“Yuki, you take Sakura and Daidouji-san in first,” Touya said, and then did something he rarely ever did – he bent down to the kid's level. “Daidouji-san,” he said. “You'll hang back a bit and give them their space? Yuki and Sakura have something to talk about.”

Tomoyo nodded.

“Onii-chan?” Sakura asked.

Touya rested a hand on her head. “I won't be far behind, I have something to talk to Li-gaki about as well,” he told her, reaching into her bag subtly and pulling Kero out, who had the good sense not to raise a racket while hanging from Touya's grip.

“Let's go, Sakura-chan, Daidouji-san,” Yuki called, holding out a hand to Sakura.

“Okay,” she agreed, slipping her hand into his and walking with him through the curtain over the door.

Touya waited for a count of ten after they'd gone in. “Come on Gaki,” he said, gesturing for Li to follow.

“What do you want to talk to _me_ about?” Li asked, both nervous and petulant.

Touya held up a finger to his lips, indicating a desire for silence, and then gestured ahead of them.

From ahead, Sakura's voice could be heard. “Yukito-san, I... I... I really like you, Yukito-san!”

Silently, they listened to Yuki gently let Sakura down, saying that he wasn't really her number one person, and that she'd find out who that really was someday.

“I don't like you Gaki,” Touya said quietly, turning to Li. His voice low and just a little dangerous. “But I can tell you like Sakura. You'd better take good care of her.”

Li, his face red and his back stiff, nodded frantically before he looked away from the imposing older boy – and down the cloth-covered walk-way which hid Sakura from view.

Touya and Yuki had to stay at the fair a while longer, so they farewelled Sakura, Daidouji and Li at the gate shortly after they all exited the “Path of the Stars”. Kero stayed with Touya though, shrunk down with Little and hiding in Touya's jacket pocket again.

“Touya, will you stay over with me tonight?” Yuki asked, watching after the kids as they left.

Touya wrapped an arm around Yuki's shoulders. “Of course,” he answered.

~oOo~

It was late, but Yuki was on the roof rather than in his bed. Or perhaps it would be better to say that _Yue_ was on the roof, as he was stretching his wings wide under the moonlight and breathing the cool, crisp night air deeply. In his own mind now he was Yuki all the time, whatever he looked like, because that was what Touya called him. He used the names Yukito and Yue to designate which version of his face he was showing the world – and they were both _his_ face.

Touya had told Yuki once – when he was feeling a bit insecure about his personal appearance – that it was _Yuki_ that he loved. The person, not the face – though both of his faces were very attractive, he'd added with a smile and a hug.

“A little help please, Jump?” came Touya's voice from below, and then he was landing on the roof beside the Moon Guardian.

“Touya,” Yuki greeted with a soft smile. “This is a nice change. You've never joined me on the roof before.”

Touya smiled back in answer. “Keroberos is asleep,” he said, crossing the roof tiles to wrap his arms around Yuki's waist.

Yuki chuckled. “Which means that nothing will wake him until morning,” he answered with a fond smile.

Touya chuckled in agreement and pressed his lips against Yuki's temple in a tender kiss. “Love you Yuki,” he said.

“Love you too Touya,” Yuki answered happily, snuggling into Touya's chest.

“Here,” Touya said, holding out a card.

“I'm not familiar with this card,” Yuki said, twisting his head to look at it, but not touching it. “And I know all the cards. So does Kero.”

“You remember the day we met the troublemaking gaki?” Touya prompted.

“You said the card you made that day wasn't finished,” Yuki answered.

Touya nodded in confirmation. “And then when we went to his house and I asked you to show me down to his basement?” he asked.

Yuki nodded, but was frowning now. “You had Kero and me wait at the door, and never did properly tell us what you were doing there, just something about a lonely card,” he said. “Is this it?” he asked.

Touya shook his head. “That card is under Keroberos' jurisdiction,” he said. “Under the rule of Light. I presented it to him just before tucking him in. _This_ is a card I made for _you_ , to keep balance with the addition of that one. It wasn't easy. The Hope was half-made by Clow already. I made this one entirely from scratch.”

Yuki smiled and kissed Touya's cheek softly before looking back to the card again. The picture was of a boy, arms crossed over his chest and strips of cloth hovering around him, a smock like the one Touya sometimes wore when cooking or doing the dishes was covering his body, and at the bottom the name was The Health.

“He's going to help me make sure I stay around for as long as I can,” Touya said softly. “But you have to accept him into your care first.”

Yuki nodded and reached out. He lay his hand over the card where Touya was still holding it, and a gentle glow surrounded the card. “Card made by Touya, under the jurisdiction of the Moon Guardian, answer to my call if ever the master is absent from us,” he said solemnly. After a few moments, the glow dulled, and it was done.

“Of course, I _won't_ be absent if I can help it,” Touya said, tucking the card back into his pocket when the glow had completely faded.

“I know,” Yuki said, resting his head against Touya's chest again, a smile on his face.

They stayed up on the roof for a while longer, enjoying the moonlight and each other's company, before Yuki spread his wings again and carried them both down. The roof wasn't the most comfortable place to go to sleep after all.

~oOo~

It was early in the morning, and even though there wasn't any soccer practice and he wasn't on classroom chores, Touya was at school. Specifically, he was with Yuki in the archery yard. Arrow and Shot were going to help Touya work on his aim – under Yuki's guidance of course.

Touya had excellent hand-eye co-ordination, but his technique with the bow was lousy. It wasn't that he wanted to compete in the sport, that was Yuki's domain, but it was something else they could do together once in a while.

It also meant that only Sword was left wearing Clow's red when they packed up and headed in to class, and Touya had a _special_ plan for Sword. A plan that _definitely_ involved Akizuki, and just _might_ involve the troublemaking gaki Hiiragizawa as well.

“Can you wait until the end of February?” Touya asked the card softly, stroking it. “It's only a few more weeks away. Not that long, can you be patient with me just a little more?”

“Touya,” Yuki said, an amused smile on his lips. “Any one else would think you were going crazy, and even I have to say you're acting out of character.”

Touya chuckled and slipped the Sword back into the deck with the other cards. “I'm going to shave Akizuki's head with Sword as a birthday present to myself.”

One hand went immediately to Yuki's mouth, the bottom lip was being bitten, the other arm went around his stomach as he folded slightly, and then he straightened, but did not move his limbs.

“Touya,” Yuki said, tears of mirth caused by not permitting himself to laugh forming at the corners of his eyes. “That's, that's... You have to let me film it!”

Touya and Yuki both laughed then, arms over each other's shoulders, as they left the archery yard behind.

“Maybe we can convince Daidouji to make costumes for the production, and trick Akizuki into being a willing participant,” Touya suggested. “Possibly even the troublemaking gaki too,” he added with a grin.

Yuki didn't stop laughing until they reached their classroom, and had to wave off questions of what was so funny.

“Private joke,” Touya fielded, restraining himself to a grin until class started and the serious business of learning occupied his full attention.

Alright, so occasionally throughout the day both he and Yuki would pause and bite their lips to stifle a chuckle, but the mental image of a bald Akizuki wasn't one easily banished.

When it eventually happened on the twenty-eighth of February (as it wasn't a leap-year, so it couldn't be done on the twenty-ninth) Yuki had one of the many pictures taken of the event framed. In commemoration of the last Clow Card becoming a Touya Card, of course. And the cake had been there because it was Touya's birthday party and Sweet liked making cakes for them, no other reason at all. Nothing at all was said of the possibility of Touya having ripped a little bit of Hiiragizawa's magic away from him.

Kids that age shouldn't be playing with anything that powerful anyway. Touya, for all his power, certainly hadn't been playing with _his_ magic at that age.

~oOo~

“That's the last one,” Sakura said with a smile as she set down the cardboard box she'd been carrying. It was the day after graduation, and a few of the cards, Kero, Sakura and Li-gaki had been helping Yuki and Touya move the latter into Yuki's house. Kero would also be changing his permanent residence, but he didn't really have all that much to move. There was one box in amongst all the others that held Kero's entire bedroom – false form, obviously – and his games.

Touya on the other hand, had a fair bit of stuff. Though admittedly a large proportion of it was uniforms from and for his many part time jobs. A great deal of the rest of the boxes were filled with books that Hiiragizawa had 'given' to Touya, since he was now in charge of the cards.

“Thank you Sakura-chan,” Yuki answered with a smile. “Now, I'd say it's lunch time. Right Touya?”

Touya chuckled and nodded in agreement. It was just a matter of unpacking boxes now, and he didn't really want anybody to help with that who wasn't going to be sharing the space with him – meaning Yuki and Kero only would be helping him. The cards, after all, didn't hang about the house much. There were a few exceptions, but Firey – Yuki had replaced _every_ electric light in the house with an oil lamp or a candle – and Bubbles weren't much help when it came to unpacking boxes.

But first, lunch.

“I have an announcement,” Sakura declared, setting down her chopsticks once everybody had finished eating. Once everybody was looking at her, she said: “I've decided to give up my magic.”

“Eh?” Li and Tomoyo asked, surprised. They hadn't been present for the family meeting where this possibility had been discussed after all.

“To Onii-chan,” Sakura finished with a smile.

“ _Eh_?!” This time it was a full chorus of everybody at the table.

“Well, I'm not really using magic any more,” Sakura pointed out. “And Onii-chan has all the cards and Yukito-san and Kero-chan depending on _his_ magic, so I figured that having a little more wouldn't hurt, even if he's already got a lot.”

“B-b-b-but, Sakura!” Li-gaki spluttered. “Do you even know how that's going to affect _you_?”

Sakura shook her head. “Not really,” she answered. “Onii-chan says I won't be able to sense the presence of ghosts any more, and that's a good thing to me, but apart from that I don't really know. I have all of the summer break to adjust though!”

Li smiled softly and reached out to wrap his hand around hers. Right there at the table. “Sakura, you're my number one,” he said, and it was from the heart.

Sakura's face was suddenly a great deal pinker however, and the silence stretched.

“Sooooo,” Kero said at last, breaking the tension. “Magical transfer. You know Sakura, magic is something that grows in a person over time. If you give Onii-sama all the magic that you have now, in a few years you'll have magic again. It's in your blood after all.”

“Oh?” Sakura asked, surprised. “But I thought...”

Touya and Yuki both shook their heads when she looked over at them.

“My magic grew slowly as I did, and then grew faster when Otou-san brought home the Book of Clow, and even faster again after I caught the Watery at the aquarium,” Touya explained.

“Think of it like hair,” Yuki suggested. “You can cut it off, but it eventually grows back. Touya taking some of Hiiragizawa-san's magic won't hurt him for long.”

“So, what will happen to you when I give you my magic Onii-chan?” Sakura asked, now fingering her hair in contemplation.

“I'll suddenly have more magic in my body, so I'll have lots of energy until I adjust, just like you'll be really tired until _you_ adjust,” Touya answered.

“Continuing with thinking of magic as hair,” Yuki suggested, “it will be like your hair growing a noticeable length over night. Suddenly, you have to figure out how to manage having more than you're used to.”

Sakura nodded, giving her hair one last thoughtful twist between her finger and thumb before she released it.

“Can we do it now?”

In response to this question, Daidouji brought out her video camera, and as the saying goes: they all lived happily ever after.

Touya in particular lasted a long time into that 'ever after', as Sakura made it a habit to give Touya her magic again every time she had built up enough to be able to sense ghosts again, which added to Touya's own already potent magic and a little help from the Health card... well, he outlived Sakura's youngest great-great-great-great-grandchild (and the last of the line) by some several thousand years. This particularly made Yuki very happy, as by the time Touya expired, even _he_ – magical construct that he was – was getting long in the tooth and ready to move on.

Keroberos was thoughtful enough to bury his little brother next to Touya when he passed on a month after, and took himself and the book to a little shop that was hidden behind a kekkai.

“Yuuko,” he called from the door. “Are you still alive, Yuuko?”

“She left,” a male voice answered. “But come in. I've taken over the shop. I assume you have a wish to be granted?”

Keroberos shook his head. “Not as such,” he answered. “I've brought something to stay in the warehouse until the right person comes for it.”

The man nodded in understanding and accepted the book from Kero.

The winged lion then glowed brightly and sank onto the seal once more, guarding and caring for the cards.

On the back of the book, where the crest of Touya's magic circle lay, the symbols of the planet and the moon flared briefly, and a new circle appeared below the magical one with four wings sprouting from it. Touya had been prepared for the possibility of Yuki following him in death, and had made a spell so that he could keep his promise of not leaving even in death.

When the next 'card captor' came along, Keroberos would be in for a surprise come Judgement, to see that there were now _three_ Guardians of the Cards.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * A [Restricted Work] by [moonwings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonwings/pseuds/moonwings) Log in to view. 




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